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You can also get invaded by NPCs in certain areas if you're human. They can drop good stuff! But you don't really want to run around human all the time. Waste of resources. You ARE kindling bonfires, though?
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Jul 3, 2022 12:06
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Simply Simon posted:You ARE kindling bonfires, though? Yep! Just the ones I spend a lot of time at.
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Jul 3, 2022 12:26
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bitterandtwisted posted:Playing this for the first time. I've got as far as Sen's Fortress and I've been hollowed basically the whole time. I unhollowed to kindle a couple of fires and summon a guy once for the twin gargoyle fight. Nah, you're pretty much doing it as you should, especially with online being down. Kindle some bonfires if you need the estus, go human if there's a summon available to make the fight less difficult, otherwise it's whatever you can keep 'em. They're annoying and inconvenient to farm up, so don't waste 'em. You've missed at least one, but there are a handful of offline invasions you can trigger that do drop some unique stuff when you take out the NPC invader. The full list of offline invasions are Depths, Blighttown, Demon Ruins, Painted World of Ariamis, Lost Izalith, and Oolacile Township.. The items they drop are far from required, but they're neat things you can pick up on following playthroughs if you feel like it. Humanity also has it's other uses. If you're desperate in a fight, they're a somewhat slow full heal when used. Liquid humanity (as in, not the item, the amount you have designated by the number in the corner,) also minorly boosts defenses, but more importantly boosts item drop rate. For a certain subset of weapons, you'll find humanity to be useful to have on hand, and even two of the game's covenants take it as offerings to get their unique rewards: Chaos Servant and Darkwraiths.
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Jul 3, 2022 15:17
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Up to Sen's, you've missed two invasions. The Depths: Kirk, Knight of Thorns. Has a high chance to drop his serrated sword or his spiked shield. Kirk also invades in two other areas, and killing him at all three in one playthrough spawns a corpse with his spiked armour that lets you damage things by rolling at them. Blighttown swamp: Man-eater Mildred. She drops her Butcher Knife weapon, and killing her makes her available as a summon for Quelaag. She's pretty useful on account of her massive fire resistance letting her tank the fight for you.
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Jul 3, 2022 16:50
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Fruits of the sea posted:Servers are shut down until a security exploit is patched though. Only the PC servers are down. Jolly cooperation is still avalable for consoles.
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Jul 3, 2022 16:54
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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AHfArW9zEQ4 I published a world map of this game and made a video walking through it. You might enjoy if you like how the world is interconnected, but obviously avoid if you haven't beaten it yet. The map and bestiary are linked in description if you want to just look at them
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Jul 12, 2022 13:35
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I feel like a lot of stuff in this game has been patched out since anyone wrote any guides. I'm shooting the bridge wyvern for the drake sword and I've fired off a hundred shots and still no sword. E: never mind complaining on the internet fixed it for shot 101 lmao
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Jul 15, 2022 04:41
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Yeah, the drake sword is pretty annoying to get. I don’t even bother anymore now that I understand how leveling up weapons work. It was helpful for my first playthrough though.
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Jul 15, 2022 04:53
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I haven't even figured out where to level up weapons yet. I assumed it might be a bit further on from where I am.
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Jul 15, 2022 05:02
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Jezza of OZPOS posted:I haven't even figured out where to level up weapons yet. I assumed it might be a bit further on from where I am. There are places you could have gone to already but the first most common place should come up for you very soon.
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Jul 15, 2022 05:13
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Jezza of OZPOS posted:I haven't even figured out where to level up weapons yet. I assumed it might be a bit further on from where I am. Upgrading is weird in DS1. You can buy a Weapon Smithbox eventually and use that to upgrade weapons at bonfires, but you hit a threshold that requires a smith to "ascend" the weapon before you can upgrade it further. Or you go to a smith and have them do all the work. There's one smith near Firelink Shrine most people don't notice early/ever. Then there's another coming up like SeANMcBAY mentioned.
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Jul 15, 2022 05:18
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I went through my entire first playthrough without understanding how to upgrade stuff properly. I still don’t fully get it.
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Jul 15, 2022 05:26
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SeANMcBAY posted:I went through my entire first playthrough without understanding how to upgrade stuff properly. I still don’t fully get it. Part of it is that only about 1/3 of the upgrade paths are actually any good*. *I mean they're all viable but a handful are just flat out better
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Jul 15, 2022 06:11
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christmas boots posted:Part of it is that only about 1/3 of the upgrade paths are actually any good*. That’s what got me. I never saw the point of, like, raw weapons for example.
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Jul 15, 2022 07:20
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The raw upgrade path increases base damage while lowering or removing stat scaling. They're for characters that aren't pumping an attack stat, e.g. low level runs, or casters that don't want to use one of the few int/fai scaling weapons. There are probably usually better weapon options though, and frequently the basic upgrade path will still result in better damage, even with low str/dex/whatever. I think due to a number of factors, the default upgrade path is just too good and pushes all the others into small niches.
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Jul 15, 2022 08:15
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Wait, I thought there was an option to make every conventional weapon scale off INT/FTH?
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Jul 15, 2022 08:59
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There is, but in my experience it's generally worse than the standard scaling, even at high int/fai. Anyway, the point of raw is to minimise scaling and maximise base damage, which is in very specific circumstances the best option. e: also the int/fai upgrade paths stop you using the int/fai weapon buff spells. ..btt fucked around with this message at 09:04 on Jul 15, 2022 |
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Jul 15, 2022 09:02
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..btt posted:The raw upgrade path increases base damage while lowering or removing stat scaling. They're for characters that aren't pumping an attack stat, e.g. low level runs, or casters that don't want to use one of the few int/fai scaling weapons. There are probably usually better weapon options though, and frequently the basic upgrade path will still result in better damage, even with low str/dex/whatever. I think due to a number of factors, the default upgrade path is just too good and pushes all the others into small niches. Honestly if you're not pumping attack stats beyond what you need for the weapon it's probably better to go Lightning/Chaos anyway E:although that does take away the ability to buff, so yeah I guess raw would be better if that was part of your plan christmas boots fucked around with this message at 09:25 on Jul 15, 2022 |
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Jul 15, 2022 09:23
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Raw sucks because it caps out at +10 while pretty much everything else caps out at +15.
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Jul 15, 2022 13:21
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Jezza of OZPOS posted:I feel like a lot of stuff in this game has been patched out since anyone wrote any guides. I'm shooting the bridge wyvern for the drake sword and I've fired off a hundred shots and still no sword. it's more dangerous but also way faster to bait the dragon onto the bridge and cut its tail off with a melee weapon that you put lightning resin on. it's like a couple swings if you manage to strike the tail hitbox.
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Jul 15, 2022 13:35
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Honestly just kill the dragon and/or rush for the claymore, the superior weapon.
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Jul 15, 2022 13:53
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..btt posted:There is, but in my experience it's generally worse than the standard scaling, even at high int/fai. Anyway, the point of raw is to minimise scaling and maximise base damage, which is in very specific circumstances the best option. Divine/Occult and Magic/Enchanted are.... fine. Nothing really resists that stuff in the base game, so if you're not pumping strength or dex then you'll still get more damage out of changing the scaling of your weapons. The DLC enemies are where they finally paid attention to resistances, and all the damage that's not straight physical is not great there. It's not helped by the fact that DS1's spell list kind of sucks. Magic has more damage things, and you can certainly make a build built around 1-shot nuking enemies in PVE if you know what you're doing, but it's also pretty boring. Faith's in an even worse sport for there. So we wind up with a situation where there's no reason not to just pick a strength or dex weapon to upgrade normally alongside your spells because most everyone is already pumping a physical attack stat alongside a casting stat. Or they're ignoring all that nonsense and go with pyromancies. Nuns with Guns fucked around with this message at 14:18 on Jul 15, 2022 |
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Jul 15, 2022 14:12
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I've been doing a ton of item/enemy/fog randomizer runs lately and as a result have had to use a whole lot of weapons and infusions I've never really tried before because you have to take what you can get and upgrade what you can because you might not even find the Large Ember until the end of the game let alone a reliable source of a specific type of titanite. The only infusion that seems to truly suck as your only damage source is fire, because there's so much stuff that's massively resistant to fire. Magic is kind of bad sometimes but you can get it to scale pretty well at least. The Lightning Spear from Sen's Fortress (upgraded to +5) carried me through the vast majority of the game in one of the runs, something that would be unthinkable to me in a normal run, but it ended up being fine. Having multiple weapons of different infusions (including one pure physical/scaling hopefully) is always going to be a good idea, and don't neglect bows. Always upgrade your bow when possible!
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Jul 15, 2022 14:23
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Dyz posted:Honestly just kill the dragon and/or rush for the claymore, the superior weapon. Yeah the strength requirement on the Drake sword is high enough and the damage differential at +0 is low enough (the unupgraded Claymore does about 75% of the Drake Sword's damage) that you might as well just grab the Claymore and open the gate while you're at it. The Claymore's R2 is also really handy in some of the tight areas you're heading into at that point anyway.
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Jul 15, 2022 14:32
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Why bother with the dumb hassle of the dragon sword or the claymore when you can just go get the Black Knight Halberd at the start of the game instead? 
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Jul 15, 2022 15:35
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John Murdoch posted:Why bother with the dumb hassle of the dragon sword or the claymore when you can just go get the Black Knight Halberd at the start of the game instead?
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Jul 15, 2022 15:44
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So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; with zwei hands he created them. The Book of Dark Souls, 1:27
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Jul 15, 2022 15:45
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nrook posted:So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; with zwei hands he created them. Well yeah, all advice about weapons has the "for some reason you are not using God's Own Pancake Maker" caveat.
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Jul 15, 2022 15:59
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Volte posted:I have a distant memory of spending like three or four hours one day repeatedly creating new games and immediately running to Darkroot Garden just to backstab the Halberd Black Knight off the cliff in hopes of getting that Halberd and still not managing to get it. All that time wasted when you could've just grabbed a BSS instead. 
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Jul 15, 2022 16:13
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Jezza of OZPOS posted:E: never mind complaining on the internet fixed it for shot 101 lmao yep it just takes way too many drat arrows, but it works Volte posted:I have a distant memory of spending like three or four hours one day repeatedly creating new games and immediately running to Darkroot Garden just to backstab the Halberd Black Knight off the cliff in hopes of getting that Halberd and still not managing to get it. I've done this before too. Really sucks if you're after the Greataxe in a run because you get one chance at it before the endgame. Fun fact, the speedrunners have a tool to guarantee Black Knight weapons for practice runs because they're that much of a pain to get at random and they shape the speedrunning scene that hard. The rarity of their weapons is annoying, but honestly the only BK weapon to not carry you through the game easily is the BKGS and even then that thing still kicks rear end. I suppose it only makes sense that they're not an easy get. Pope Guilty posted:Yeah the strength requirement on the Drake sword is high enough and the damage differential at +0 is low enough (the unupgraded Claymore does about 75% of the Drake Sword's damage) that you might as well just grab the Claymore and open the gate while you're at it. The Claymore's R2 is also really handy in some of the tight areas you're heading into at that point anyway. Hell, just the 2H R1 puts in work on the greatsword moveset. That first swing is surprisingly quick and lets you pick away at enemies you can't stay near long, and is a tight vertical swing that works fine in close corridors. The Claymore isn't exceptional early on, few standard weapons are, but it does a good enough job. It's not to say that the Drake Sword still doesn't have it's uses. The dragon shockwave is good for dealing with some troublesome encounters, and getting it is infinitely safer (if boring) for a new player than it is to try and run the bridge. Hellkite Drake is often kinda unpredictable. Some days he lets me through without issue, other days he just doesn't want to let it happen easily.
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Jul 15, 2022 17:57
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I think the key benefit of the drake sword is that it's good and reliable out the box and will carry you for the first chunk of the game without needing to stress about weapon upgrades at all. Not the worst thing in the world if you're totally new and struggling. Though it can also be a big downside because some players never learn about weapon upgrades and they end up with the thing still glued to their hand in fuckin' Anor Londo.
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Jul 15, 2022 19:22
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Yeah the better noob weapon by then is the lightning spear you find in Sens.
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Jul 15, 2022 19:50
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Electromax posted:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AHfArW9zEQ4 This was a cool way of going through the game with a wider perspective, thanks
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Jul 15, 2022 19:56
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SeANMcBAY posted:Yeah the better noob weapon by then is the lightning spear you find in Sens. Lightning's not even great in Anor Londo and it still does surprisingly well then, carving through the rest of the fortress easily enough. It's like they basically dropped a more useful Demon Spear one zone early for you. You can even just remove the lightning and you're looking at a +10 weapon. I would say the Crystal Halberd is the best crutch weapon following if it wasn't for the whole durability thing. A new player's going to die a lot and not see the most momentum out of that thing. I still use it to delete Sif on any run I don't have anything better or challenging myself to a specific weapon type though. The Occult Club is just a Divine Club +5 for characters who really need it. It's probably the most underwhelming pre-upgraded weapon. The Gravelord Sword exists, I guess. It does pretty alright for what it is and how early you can potentially get it, but it's hardly a weapon new players will find in time, if at all. Same goes for the ghost curved sword.
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Jul 15, 2022 20:32
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You can upgrade the Crystal Halberd to repair it, that gives it a lot of legs
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Jul 15, 2022 20:40
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Odd Wilson posted:The Occult Club is just a Divine Club +5 for characters who really need it. It's probably the most underwhelming pre-upgraded weapon. The Occult Club will forever be known in my head as "the catacombs tool". Bump it down to Divine +5, don't worry about necromancers. Not sure I've ever used it for any other purpose.
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Jul 15, 2022 21:01
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HaB posted:The Occult Club will forever be known in my head as "the catacombs tool".
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Jul 15, 2022 21:02
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Divine keeps skellies down but, what's the point with occult? I always made that club divine.
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Jul 15, 2022 23:04
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Guillermus posted:Divine keeps skellies down but, what's the point with occult? I always made that club divine. Theoretically occult does bonus damage to holy enemies, like gods and their followers. So Gwyn, Paladin Leeroy, the Anor Londo Bash Brothers, etc. Kind of makes you wonder what Havel was doing with it TBH neither are especially great but Divine has advantage of keeping the skellies down
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Jul 15, 2022 23:19
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Havel was framed.
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Jul 15, 2022 23:24
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