Dark Souls II help thread

[Longo_2_guns]

Now that this game is out for PC and I've had a chance to play through it, I figured this would be the perfect time for those of us who have played through to help out those who have not.

So I'll start with a basic tip.

Blunt weapons are extremely useful. The plain mace you can get from the blacksmith in the beginning will remain powerful the whole game.

In Majula, there is a well next to the mansion. Knock the body into it to get an estus shard, which the Emerald Maiden turns into an additional flask.

In the beginning of the game, once you have a good blunt weapon, go through the small door in the big arch on the far side of Majula. After a long trek there ifs a pull chain above a good gate, which takes you to the next area. There are a bunch of giant sentinels there that are fairly easy to kill. I'd you go left in the big room with three in it, and then kill the next three, a switch will pop up that lowers a drawbridge. Through the fog gate is a tough, optional boss, but more importantly is the chest next to it. In that chest is a ring that decreases HP loss when you hollow by a full 50%, and sets the cap to 80% left.

 

[Greebonicky]

The best tip I think you can give for DS2 is learn to dodge. Using a shield will work for a short while but the bosses and larger enemies will begin to wipe out your stamina in no time if you try blocking them.

 

[Longo_2_guns]

It's not as bad in Dark Souls 2 as in other games, but no early game shield blocks 100%. But rolling is definitely useful. If you level up adaptability then you get longer invincibility frames for your rolls.

 

[Sourdeez]

Tweak guide to use all that extra hardware power.
http://www.pcgamer.com/2014/04/21/dark- ... ing-guide/

 

[cyberjim2000]

I recently bought the game and found out it doesn't work with the game pad setup I had (a PS2 controller hooked up to a usb converter), but the mouse and keyboard setup is serviceable. It's just you have to configure it to be not awful. Even then it's still annoying because of the left-click to attack or double-left click to strong attack.

 

[Master_Craig]

I bought Dark Souls II and I'm loving it, despite raging occasionally.

I played the first Dark Souls on my PC and the keyboard controls were atrocious, so I ended up using my old game pad for PC, which is similar to a PS2 controller. I seem to have misplaced by controller, so for Dark Souls II I'm using the keyboard... which I'm pleasantly surprised with. It does work quite well, although mouse sensitivity is a bit crazy at first until you lower it through the options.

I have some tips regarding one particular boss fight. Spoiler tag attached.

Spoilers:

The Dragonrider. He's found in the area that Longo_2_guns mentions (just after Manjula, where all those giants are). You'll fight the Dragonrider in a small circle "arena". Be careful of the edge, if you fall, you'll fall into water below and die. Here's the easiest way to kill him...

Upon entering the room, don't move. Wait for him to come closer. if anything, take a few steps forward toward the edge of the bridge, just before the platform. Move to the edge yourself. When the Dragonrider begins to strike, to a forward roll dodge slightly to the right, essentially jumping the corner of the bridge to platform. When the Dragonrider strikes he'll move forward and due to the auto-tracking/targeting, he will fall right off the edge and die. Easiest way to kill him.

End spoiler.

I might try and check out the optional boss fight Longo suggested... more importantly that ring sounds really awesome.

I'm currently up to one boss fight (spoiler: The Pursuer) and I can't beat him at all. I almost got him when I had some help from a co-op phantom but he managed to kill me.

Also uh... any suggestions on better weapons? I'm currently running around switching between a short sword and a bandit's axe. I have a shield, but I'm starting to wonder if it's worth it... the shield is good for blocking attacks of smaller enemies, but big enemies or bosses? It's almost useless due to stamina loss.

 

[Longo_2_guns]

There is no shield worth it for quite some time (there's a hidden blacksmith that sells a good one), and the Pursuer is a completely optional fight. I didn't even know about it my first playthrough until I was most of the way through.

Like I said before, the mace is really good, as is the morning star (which you can find on a ridge in Majula near where you come in from Things Betwixt). Also the Bastard Sword is really good if you can get one.

 

[Master_Craig]

I might try and get the mace or morningstar, that sounds awesome.

With the Pursuer, he's blocking my path from one direction I want to go. He may be optional but whatever's behind him I'd like to go to.

For me, he's at this bridge... and I can't get past him. :/

 

[Greebonicky]

When doing the Dragonrider in Heide's Tower of Flame there's actually switches that come up after killing the Iron Knights to make the arena where you fight him bigger so you won't fall off.

As for the Pursuer, there's two ways to beat him. The hard way is to just learn his attacks so you can dodge, tag him with 1-2 quick hits then rinse and repeat. The "easier" way to do it can be tricky as it requires a summon to know what you're doing, but if one person just holds his attention the other can use the balista to hit him which takes 90% of his health with one hit.

And as the Pursuer is optional you can just leave him till later on in the game when your stats and loadout are slightly beefed up to make the fight a bit easier. If you're reallllly having trouble it can help to exploit the fact enemies on the way to bosses have limited respawns, so you can just grind for a while killing them, clearing the path so you can just keep trying at the boss without having the hassle of fighting your way to them.

As for weapons it entirely depends on your playstyle, but if you're having trouble you should probably lean towards faster weapons, as the heavy damage weapons can tend to have long attack animations and can lead you open for quite a while.

 

[Longo_2_guns]

With the Pursuer, he's blocking my path from one direction I want to go. He may be optional but whatever's behind him I'd like to go to.

There's not much behind him that's of any use until the end of the game. On top of that, he's a pretty tough boss. I was able to beat the old dragonslayer easily (who is fairly tough), and I have still had trouble with Pursuer. His attacks swing widely and do pretty damn high damage, so he's tough.

Still, your best bet is going through the wharf. Also, here's a tip for the wharf if you have trouble with the guys with long arms: they're afraid of fire.

 

[Master_Craig]

I'm pretty stubborn, I want the Pursuer dead and I wanna see whatever is behind him. Maybe I'll come back later, not sure.

I'm up to the Wharf too.

As for those creatures in the wharf with the long arms (spoiler): Yeah, I know they're afraid of fire. You can either carry your torch in one hand to make them stay away from you or you can flee to a nearby lantern. Be careful, don't get cocky or overconfident, if you try to push them all back with the fire yes they will run away and group together inside a small building, however once they all group together indoors, they will come for you, regardless if you are carrying a torch or near fire. (end spoiler)

I think I need better weapons. Am going to try the stuff Longo suggested in Majula to get that mace.

 

[StudioTan]

When I got to the Warf I was all like, "HEYYYYY YOU GUYYYYYS!"

 

[StudioTan]

So Dark Souls 2 just received a second DLC release, along with a rather large patch that essentially nerfed a whole bunch of stuff (mostly in regards to PvP, I think). Here's a link to the patch notes:

http://darksouls2.wiki.fextralife.com/1.07+Patch+Notes

Anyway, I only have the vanilla game, and I honestly haven't felt compelled to finish it. It's just not as interesting as the first two titles. I'm pretty sure it's a different dev team working on this game, or at least different writers. If I remember correctly, the original director, Hidetaka Miyazaki took a big portion of the Souls team to work on "Bloodborne." His absence kind of shows in DS2. I feel like they didn't quite know what to do with this game. For instance, the monsters didn't quite fit the areas they inhabited as well as they did in the previous games, and nothing really felt 'fresh' - more a re-hash of different concepts and ideas from the other games that got thrown together in a rather bland way. I can't quite put the nail on the head right now. I just got the feeling like, "hey, I've done this before...Twice."

Has anyone else played the DLC? How is it? What are your impressions of the game?

Also, what happened to that press statement, "we don’t expect any additional downloadable content because we want to deliver a full game, the full experience, to fans who purchase the package from day one.â€

 

[Master_Craig]

I really enjoyed Dark Souls II. I haven't finished the first one (Longo has told me on numerous occasions to finish Dark Souls and even play Demon's Souls). I'd like to give Dark Souls a play sometime, might start again in that game.

I got the DLC for Dark Souls II unfortunately I'm having difficulty accessing it. Foolishly, I started a New Game Plus mode and it's really hard. I wish I could make my file back to normal mode and then access the DLC from there.

 

[StudioTan]

I think I have just built a heavy bias towards Demon's Souls and its story. Thanks, Longo.
I don't mean to be too harsh on DS2. It does have its strengths in PvP for sure. I've even heard someone break it down before as:

- Demon's Souls for story/lore
- Dark Souls for PvE
- Dark Souls 2 for PvP

 

[Longo_2_guns]

Yeah, Dark Souls II didn't resonate as well with me as the other two games did. It was good, still, but didn't quite stand up to the others.

 

[used44]

Ok, so obviously wearing heavier armors reduces the speed of your rolls/evades but which stat is this based off exactly? The percentage of your carry weight being used? What's the best way to compare how different loadouts will handle?

Why do some armor items, when equipped have a blue + value? Where is this bonus coming from?

Is it always a bad idea to equip armors that have penalties? Those penalties come from not meeting stat requirements, right? i.e. my strength is 9 but it has to be 14 to dress like a ninja turtle?

 

[Longo_2_guns]

Ok, so obviously wearing heavier armors reduces the speed of your rolls/evades but which stat is this based off exactly? The percentage of your carry weight being used? What's the best way to compare how different loadouts will handle?

It's based on the percentage of carry weight, through 25% incriments. Being under 25% makes you roll fastest, and being at even 26% of your weight capacity knocks it up one.

Why do some armor items, when equipped have a blue + value? Where is this bonus coming from?

The blue + value is how the armor scales based on your stats, I think. I know that's how it works for weapons, so I assume it works that way for armor as well.

Is it always a bad idea to equip armors that have penalties? Those penalties come from not meeting stat requirements, right? i.e. my strength is 9 but it has to be 14 to dress like a ninja turtle?

Yeah, exactly. So it could be less effective than wearing a sheet instead.

 

[used44]

What does lighting the torches do?

What should I spend my souls on? Leveling? What's most important to level early. I'm playing a swordsman focusing on moving and striking, never really blocking.

 

[Longo_2_guns]

Lighting the torches does nothing.

And yeah, leveling. I think adaptability is the best stat up to like level 20, because it gives you more invincibility frames when rolling, but other than that, vitality, stamina, and either strength or dex based on what weapons you're using.