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Black Griffon
Mar 12, 2005

Now, in the quantum moment before the closure, when all become one. One moment left. One point of space and time.

I know who you are. You are destiny.


The Dark Project posted:

I'd more likely run the high strength build above, but with Faith instead of Int. You can't hide, but you get regen spells, heal spells, blessed weapon etc, making you like a Paladin of sorts.

Starting to lean this way tbh, just because an arcane knight seems possible but kind of clumsy. Also I haven't actually played a smashy faith build since DS1, I just think paladins are lawful little turds.

Just to be clear, is that 40str/40faith?

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LazyMaybe
Aug 18, 2013

oouagh
lothric knight greatsword could be nice. especially if you do wanna regen-it works unusually well with blessed since it has innate lightning damage by default, and with blessed both the physical and lightning damage will scale up with faith.

but for whatever reason despite having a higher strength req, it actually scales a little better with dex.
so you get a little better scaling at 16/40 str/dex instead of the other way around. you could use this as an excuse to run a dex/faith character instead, while still getting to use a big smashy weapon(and then you could keep a fast dex weapon in your pocket to switch to, like a lothric knight straight sword). could even pump up to 50 dex for max cast speed if you really want that and want to not use sage ring.

Black Griffon
Mar 12, 2005

Now, in the quantum moment before the closure, when all become one. One moment left. One point of space and time.

I know who you are. You are destiny.


Whether dex or str, what sort of attunement should I be looking at for a paladin type?

Sir Tonk
Apr 18, 2006
Young Orc

lite_sleepr posted:

Guys what's the flat out best strength weapon that isn't a UGS?

GAMES JOURNALISM

There's an IGN guide for a Bloodborne playthrough that has you keep and use the plank shield exclusively because it's so super useful.

i used it to beat bloody crow the first time cause i kept getting my rear end kicked

Horace Kinch
Aug 15, 2007

Black Griffon posted:

Whether dex or str, what sort of attunement should I be looking at for a paladin type?

Go with your gut. There really aren't wrong answers.

Black Griffon
Mar 12, 2005

Now, in the quantum moment before the closure, when all become one. One moment left. One point of space and time.

I know who you are. You are destiny.


Horace Kinch posted:

Go with your gut. There really aren't wrong answers.

Yeah you're probably right. I've played hundreds of hours of souls without giving a poo poo and a few hundred giving a poo poo and I inevitably get bogged down if I plan too much.

Zodack
Aug 3, 2014
The best way to play Souls is "this looks cool" and not worry too much about it after all

giZm
Jul 7, 2003

Only the insane equates pain with success

Fashionsouls will always be the ultimate goal, no matter which Soulsborne.

Phobophilia
Apr 26, 2008

by Hand Knit

The Dark Project posted:

Not a problem. I'd recommend seeing if you can't pic up a Greataxe from High Wall of Lothric/Lothric Tower. It's a hellish weapon, and scales with Strength, so infuse with a Heavy Gem for max efficiency. You can have this weapon from the get-go. To be able to weild it, you need to spend all your beginning points into Strength, and go for 22 Str at the minimum to 2-hand it. Then put points into Vigor. With your base Vit you won't be able to wear your full Knight's set you start with because the axe is so heavy, so drop the helmet and gauntlets and you're good to go. As you add rings, you might need to up your Vit so you can carry it. Eventually get to a Vit which allows you to look as Knightly as possible. I'd also get Vordt's Hammer, because holy crap is it a beast. Whereas the Greataxe is mostly a 1 target attack, chopping downwards, Vordt's is a swing, and you can just slay through groups so easily. If neither of these weapons excite you, or you can't get a Greataxe to drop, just use your starting Longsword or the Broadsword. You can save the reinforcing titanite for a better weapon you pick up in Undead Settlement or later, as Vordt isn't that hard to beat.

You aren't really going to run into many good spells that early, so no need to get to 10 Int until you run into Orbeck and get him back to Firelink. I would recommend leveling Int to 10 and picking up Magic Weapon from Yoel though, as it will allow you to buff your main weapon (Vordt's can't be buffed, same for most Boss weapons). Once you've cleared out Farron Keep and opened the doors, you'll want 15 Int by then, because you can give Orbeck both Sage and Golden Scrolls for more spells, giving you access to Hidden Body, Spook, Aural Decoy etc. Running down past the bonfire in Farron Keep Perimiter gets you Great Magic Weapon, requiring 15 int, and it's a great buff. If you want to be full sneak, buy Farron Flashsword, Aural Decoy, Pestilent Mist and Spook from Orbeck, then talk to him until he gives you the Young Dragon's ring, and more importantly, Slumbering Dragoncrest ring. This can allow you to sneak through all the areas that are a pain in the arse to get through (looking at you Cathedral of the Deep) with barely anyone noticing. The Giant Slaves will still attack, but the rest usually aren't that good at detecting unless you come right up close to them.

Don't like Greataxes, and would prefer a sword instead? You could buy a Zweihander off of Greirat after he's scavenged the Undead Settlement for an early strength sword. Just give him Loretta's Bone, quit, come back, talk to him when he is in mourning, quit, come back and then you can get him to scavenge the settlement. Or wait until Farron Keep and pick up the Greatsword in the swamp. Or for an even longer wait, the Fume Ultra Greatsword in Catacombs. All of the most powerful Str weapons are ridiculously big, and there's no getting around that. However, you can break poise so quickly and stunlock an enemy into oblivion. Bosses melt under these kinds of weapons. Vordt's can even be cheesed where you hit them twice to apply Frostbite, and then remove it using a firebomb. Means they'll be constantly taking the highest damage through the constant application, removal and then reapplication of Frostbite.

An additional recommendation to this build? If you spend 1 point in Faith and take it to 10, you can pick up the Priest Chimes off of Greirat after he has scavenged the Undead Settlement, and using their weapon art allows you to get really cheap healing. You do need to stand around and wait for it to regenerate your health while holding the chimes (doesn't work if you're 2 handing your gear), but it's a really cheap heal for low FP cost, cheaper than a regular Estus heal, but again, it costs time. If you aren't interested in that, just get a Lothric Knight Shield, infuse with the Blessed Gem from the top area of the Cathedral of the Deep, and make it +10 for the fastest tick on its regen if you want something you can offhand hold for blocking. If you're going full 2-handed to fully max out your damage, want something light and don't want anything easily showing up that looks out of place on a Knight, then the Caestus is your best friend as it only weighs 0.5, and can be buffed and infused, so do that with the Blessed gem instead and make it +10.

A 40 Str/40 Int build can work, but is less optimal for damage output. The best Magic buff is Crystal Magic Weapon, which works best in a 40 Dex/60 Int build. If you're going 20 Str (or 40 Str)/60 Int, that could work if you use Longsword, Broadsword, Mace or other Straight Sword, but the thing is with weapon buffs, you get most bang for your buck from them on fast attacking weapons, like most Dex weapons, and most often dual weilded. For Strength weapons, they're often slow and have a higher end usage, so aren't so great at getting max usage out of spell buffs for them. And as I said before, going 40/60 means usually having to go without Vitality, which means as you said you're no longer a Knight, you're a Spellsword. I'd more likely run the high strength build above, but with Faith instead of Int. You can't hide, but you get regen spells, heal spells, blessed weapon etc, making you like a Paladin of sorts. At the end of the day, it's all PvE, which means you can make whatever you like pretty much and still do well.

Good luck with your character!

The tip about really efficient healing with the chime WA is pretty handy, because when using large hyperarmor weapons, you're going to be trading and hits from enemies. The cheaper the heal the longer you can sustain.

It'd like to mention that you can get the claymore from below the wyvern tower in High Wall.

Also, all the large weapons, larger than maces, have such high base damage and base scaling that they beat out raw infusion scaling even when infused. Which is pretty handy, and things get even better when you hit Road of Sacrifices for the Heavy Infusion.

The Dark Project
Jun 25, 2007

Give it to me straight...

Black Griffon posted:

Starting to lean this way tbh, just because an arcane knight seems possible but kind of clumsy. Also I haven't actually played a smashy faith build since DS1, I just think paladins are lawful little turds.

Just to be clear, is that 40str/40faith?

Nah, same as the original one I posted, with 66 Str, but 15 Fth instead of Int.


Black Griffon posted:

Whether dex or str, what sort of attunement should I be looking at for a paladin type?

10 is fine, as you can just use it to keep a heal or regen spell handy. If you go to 14, you can have that and a weapon buff, like Blessed Weapon, or utility like Caressing Tears (great for Farron Keep), or Tears of Denial for a second chance at life. Or, if you don't want a Lawful goody two-shoes, go 12 int/12 fth and make a Blackguard who uses Carthus Flame Arc and Carthus Beacon to buff himself. Buy the Dark Hand, equip it offhand, and use it to Lifedrain human NPC's. Or buy Force as a spell choice. Congrats, you've just made Darth Vader. Albeit, with a honkingly huge lightsaber.

Black Griffon
Mar 12, 2005

Now, in the quantum moment before the closure, when all become one. One moment left. One point of space and time.

I know who you are. You are destiny.


The Dark Project posted:

Nah, same as the original one I posted, with 66 Str, but 15 Fth instead of Int.

10 is fine, as you can just use it to keep a heal or regen spell handy. If you go to 14, you can have that and a weapon buff, like Blessed Weapon, or utility like Caressing Tears (great for Farron Keep), or Tears of Denial for a second chance at life. Or, if you don't want a Lawful goody two-shoes, go 12 int/12 fth and make a Blackguard who uses Carthus Flame Arc and Carthus Beacon to buff himself. Buy the Dark Hand, equip it offhand, and use it to Lifedrain human NPC's. Or buy Force as a spell choice. Congrats, you've just made Darth Vader. Albeit, with a honkingly huge lightsaber.

Ah, got it. Gonna aim for 14 att just so I feel I've got a bit of variation. Thanks again, big help.

lite_sleepr
Jun 3, 2003
Want to run a sort of dark cleric. A high faith or int build with strength, like a mace or another strength weapon that scales will with either str, or faith.

Tall order, isn't it

Moola
Aug 16, 2006
Reminder that builds only matter for specific pvp encounters

In pve everything works. Use what looks/feels good

The Dark Project
Jun 25, 2007

Give it to me straight...

lite_sleepr posted:

Want to run a sort of dark cleric. A high faith or int build with strength, like a mace or another strength weapon that scales will with either str, or faith.

Tall order, isn't it

Nah you can be good with the Dragonslayer's Axe with Heavy Infusion. Get the minimal stats to weild it (18str/14dex), 60 faith and a high attunement for high FP. You can have more Ashen Estus compared to regular, and get more efficiency using healing spells. Keep a few regular Estus on hand though for quick heals in hard fights. The axe scales best with Heavy if you want to buff it, otherwise Lightning is best for your high faith, then Blessed. If you pick up the Sunlight Straight Sword, you can keep it on you to get the Weapon Art buff, then switch to the Axe.

If you wanted to be like Perun, the Slavic God of Lightning, this would easily be the build for you (I made it myself). Dark is another kettle of fish entirely, so I'd recommend getting enough items to hand in to get Darkmoon Blade from Yorshka, then killing her for her Chime, which are the best in slot for Clerics in PvE. Also get Int to 18, which is the break point, meaning you'll be able to cast Pyromancies at max damage with your 18/60 split. Buff weapon with Darkmoon Blade, Dark Blade, Carthus Flame Arc etc, and focus on Dark Miracles and Pyromancies like Dorhy's Gnawing, Lifehunt Scythe, Deep Protection, Black Fire Orb (requires 20 Int, which isn't too bad in this build, and keeps an 80 total which is what most go for for max Pyro efficiency), Toxic Mist etc. You could roleplay as Veles, God of the Underworld and the opposite to Perun, having used his trickery to steal Perun's axe from him while he wasn't looking. Pyromancer is best choice for stat efficiency if you go this route.

Moola posted:

Reminder that builds only matter for specific pvp encounters

In pve everything works. Use what looks/feels good

Absolutely true, but having builds for PvE means you can get a better efficiency for your soul spend, and thus not need to spend any extra time farming just to get the stats you want to weild specific weapons or spells, or be as good in combat as you'd like. At the end of the day, yeah this is really Fashionsouls at its core.

The Dark Project fucked around with this message at 18:33 on Jan 10, 2022

Magitek
Feb 20, 2008

That's not jolly.
That's not jolly at all!
In preparation of Elden Ring, should I replay DS2 as part of that community project or instead play The Surge and/or Surge 2 (since I've been sitting on the keys for ages from Humble Monthly)?

No Dignity
Oct 15, 2007

The Surge 2 is the closest-to-good knock off Soulslike about but it's really undermined by it's actively grating writing and world design, I'd say Surge 2 if you want to try out a novel take on sci-fi Souls combat that largely works but inside a horrible scenario, or DS2 if you already like it and want to recapture those release-day online vibes

Scandalous
Jul 16, 2009
I rate Surge 1 very highly as a sci-fi soulslike and would recommend it to anyone, Surge 2 has some better systems but lacks atmosphere and the writing is atrocious

John Murdoch
May 19, 2009

I can tune a fish.

Magitek posted:

In preparation of Elden Ring, should I replay DS2 as part of that community project or instead play The Surge and/or Surge 2 (since I've been sitting on the keys for ages from Humble Monthly)?

Yes. With a big rush of people online there's no reason not to casually noodle around in DS2, while also dedicating yourself to proper playthrough of TS1/2, imo.

Scandalous posted:

I rate Surge 1 very highly as a sci-fi soulslike and would recommend it to anyone, Surge 2 has some better systems but lacks atmosphere and the writing is atrocious

And yeah this serves as a basic summary of which game to pick. The Surge 2 is more actively fun to play, but every other part of the experience kinda sucks. The Surge 1's combat is often cruel and swingy, but all of the other important Soulslike stuff like atmosphere and story are stronger. Though I think TS1 really needs the A Day at the Park DLC to really push it over the edge into being a complete and satisfying game, no idea if that was bundled with whatever Humble version.

Though neither game is a real winner when it comes to boss fights. The Surge 2 improves on it by having like, maybe three good boss fights, one of which is the final boss.

No Dignity
Oct 15, 2007

and btw by 'bad writing' in The Surge 2 I don't mean some lovely flavour text you can skip, the entire aesthetic of the world and the people in it are extremely annoying and you're going to be going through levels listening to people with the worlds most grating voices ranting on loudspeakers on loop

Idiot Doom Spiral
Jan 2, 2020
Faith is the guile theme of DS3. It goes with everything.

Edit: How painful would trying to beat dancer early with dark hand be for my second playthrough? I have like 15 vigor.

Idiot Doom Spiral fucked around with this message at 14:23 on Jan 12, 2022

The Dark Project
Jun 25, 2007

Give it to me straight...

Idiot Doom Spiral posted:

Faith is the guile theme of DS3. It goes with everything.

Edit: How painful would trying to beat dancer early with dark hand be for my second playthrough? I have like 15 vigor.

Shitloads of people seem to be able to do it easy on youtube. I usually get hammered easily. Give it a try though? You could always kill off the two patrolling Lothric Knights, the two Hollow soldiers with spears and the one with the crossbow, and then summon both available phantoms if you haven't killed Vordt yet, and see if they can act as enough of a distraction to give you time to attack her back legs with the Dark Hand. There are youtube videos of how to do it, but whenever I try I get stomped.

axolotl farmer
May 17, 2007

Now I'm going to sing the Perry Mason theme

Lion King Albert’s phantom will black crystal out if you murdered Emma.

skasion
Feb 13, 2012

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

Idiot Doom Spiral posted:

Faith is the guile theme of DS3. It goes with everything.

Edit: How painful would trying to beat dancer early with dark hand be for my second playthrough? I have like 15 vigor.

Dancer with low health is annoying. Dark hand means you can kill her in a reasonable amount of time, but you still have to get close to her (very close, since with dark hand you basically have to slap her rear end repeatedly till she dies) and if she tags you with one hit of a combo you’re just gonna eat poo poo.

The Dark Project
Jun 25, 2007

Give it to me straight...

axolotl farmer posted:

Lion King Albert’s phantom will black crystal out if you murdered Emma.

Ahhh bugger I forgot about that.

Welp, you'd be better off solo then, so the Dancer doesn't get enhanced health. Or with the Master's help I guess just so she doesn't focus solely on you. But yeah, if you get hit, you're pretty much going to die. You could wait until you get to Rosaria, then use her to respec to 30 int and as high a vitality as you can get, and cheese the Dancer using Pestilent Mist, but other than that you're stuck having to try to kill her with the Dark Hand. If you do it though, mad respect for you.

Horace Kinch
Aug 15, 2007

Idiot Doom Spiral posted:

Faith is the guile theme of DS3. It goes with everything.

Edit: How painful would trying to beat dancer early with dark hand be for my second playthrough? I have like 15 vigor.

The trick to Dancer is to punch her in the butt. Behind her is always the safest place to be and staying there is easy. Time your dodges to her spin2win because mashing your dodge button will just rollcatch you into an early grave, there's a rhythm to it being a dancer and all. You could also toss a few quick upgrades into the Deep Battle Axe that the first mimic gives you (in the room the Wyvern is guarding in High Wall) if you want to end her before you even fight Vordt.

Amppelix
Aug 6, 2010

that "trick" does not help much when, as said, you have so little health that you die from a single mistake

what does help though is not being an idiot and trying to pointlessly iframe through the spin attack when you can instead just run away from it and hide behind one of the pillars if necessary

Horace Kinch
Aug 15, 2007

Amppelix posted:

that "trick" does not help much when, as said, you have so little health that you die from a single mistake

what does help though is not being an idiot and trying to pointlessly iframe through the spin attack when you can instead just run away from it and hide behind one of the pillars if necessary

So don't make mistakes :smug:

But seriously, Dancer takes practice. Killing her early invites some risk but once you've studied her habits a few times you'll clown all over it.

Sway Grunt
May 15, 2004

Tenochtitlan, looking east.
I'll always try to dance with Dancer a few times because nailing it is so satisfying. If I eat poo poo so be it, the run back is trivial.

That said, I have not tried to fight her early. If I did I would probably opt to keep away rather than gleefully roll directly into her spin.

double nine
Aug 8, 2013

For dancer I found it helps to mute the game music. Its slow soothing tunes are seriously distracting

The Dark Project
Jun 25, 2007

Give it to me straight...
I would really love to use Dancer's Enchanted Blades on a character, but they made them suck so so so badly.

Amppelix
Aug 6, 2010

They're perfectly fine unless you plan on doing hardcore dueling

Idiot Doom Spiral
Jan 2, 2020
You're more likely to find weak arena opponents than NG+ enemies that don't resist the broadly split damage. Blades seem to be close to the worst not-joke weapon in the game, but like everything else, it is hard to go too wrong with an R1.

Trip report sorcery build: The biggest challenge is not just shrugging my shoulders and whacking things with a raw longsword. Heysel's eats a lot of stamina, and the R1-Soul GS combo seems a pointless waste of FP in PvE. Greater fantastic extra bonus soul arrow has been useful, but is an extremely boring spell, and I belong in Souls-jail for kiting Tsorig and killing him with it. Strongly considering going pyro and/or starting to invade at 60. My gripe with sorcery right now is just a short list of "interesting" things I can really do.

On the less negative side, a new playthrough has been sick. I ended up summoning for Vordt of all things because my camera bugged out when he had one hit left, but other than that things have been stylish with lotsa parrying and backstabbing. Abyss Watchers was a lot of fun with just backstabs. Cracking open Dancer later tonight (still at 18 vit, but got a ton of int now). Will for sure attempt Friede when time permits, which in turn would grant access to the most annoying sound in the world, but also Aquamarine Dagger, +3 rings and Demon's Scar.

The Dark Project
Jun 25, 2007

Give it to me straight...
I am wondering how effective a pure magic melee character would be. No melee weapons, just cast spells like Farron Flashsword and the like. You'd need to bee-line for a simple gem infusion for your offhand as soon as you could for the FP regen, but otherwise you could go dex/int, still wear sages ring, and have a magic speed melee caster build.

Idiot Doom Spiral
Jan 2, 2020

The Dark Project posted:

I am wondering how effective a pure magic melee character would be. No melee weapons, just cast spells like Farron Flashsword and the like. You'd need to bee-line for a simple gem infusion for your offhand as soon as you could for the FP regen, but otherwise you could go dex/int, still wear sages ring, and have a magic speed melee caster build.

That is more or less what Heysel's pick is for and what I tried doing. You only have R1+cast as a moveset (+running, and supposedly jumping attacks), so the go-to is R1+Soul GS, or lots of FFS for things that aren't staggered (FFS is >really< good in so many ways, but terribly efficient for PvE it isn't). Offhand can be Scholar's Candlestick once you get it, or for me usually a parry shield (starter shield, iron round shield, llewelyn).

Again, it works pretty well, but for PvE it just seems slower in a not-very-challenging way. If you took Heysel's and any sort of dagger out of the equation, it would be even duller. Might be more exciting once you have a full switch-up's worth of spells (Dark Blade, Old Moonlight, SGS, FFFS), but you'd still want something that can crit because that is like the best animation in the game.

I'm just starting to suspect that the experience I'm looking for is pyroing.

Edit: Most Souls moment of the day. Fought the Pontiff's Beast before Irithyll, and did the nose whack into riposte. It rolls over with a bit of health left, and I figure I'll just whack it to get my ring. The tail waggle instakills me.

Idiot Doom Spiral fucked around with this message at 13:24 on Jan 14, 2022

Black Griffon
Mar 12, 2005

Now, in the quantum moment before the closure, when all become one. One moment left. One point of space and time.

I know who you are. You are destiny.


I'm starting to consider a pyro knight instead of what I've been doing because it seems more gently caress You And Die From Magic than a suboptimal arcane knight or a goody two shoes paladin turd burglar (APAB), but I'm worried the int/faith requirements will gently caress me?

Black Griffon fucked around with this message at 22:56 on Jan 14, 2022

Horace Kinch
Aug 15, 2007

Black Griffon posted:

I'm starting to consider a pyro knight instead of what I've been doing because it seems more gently caress You And Die From Magic than a suboptimal arcane knight or a goody two shoes paladin turd burglar (APAB), but I'm worried the int/faith requirements will gently caress me?

Once you park your int & fth at 30 dump your points wherever you want.

Black Griffon
Mar 12, 2005

Now, in the quantum moment before the closure, when all become one. One moment left. One point of space and time.

I know who you are. You are destiny.


Horace Kinch posted:

Once you park your int & fth at 30 dump your points wherever you want.

gently caress it, let's go.

Black Griffon
Mar 12, 2005

Now, in the quantum moment before the closure, when all become one. One moment left. One point of space and time.

I know who you are. You are destiny.


One issue I've had both this stint of DS3 and previous ones: Intermittent 0.5-1 sec freezes, usually paired, at very inopportune times. Often they happen when I get hit, sometimes they just happen out of the blue. I thought it might be a controller vibration issue, but it's disabled in both DS3 and steam and that doesn't help. The really frustrating thing is that it doesn't happen every session. I can go hours without it happening, and then I boot up the game and it happens every five minutes, occasionally more often. I'm running this off an SSD with 16gb of ram, a 3080 and uuuh a processor that's should be perfectly fine.

YF-23
Feb 17, 2011

My god, it's full of cat!


It's been happening to me occasionally when I play with a friend. I thought discord/the discord overlay might be the culprit but I have 0 real evidence for it.

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Black Griffon
Mar 12, 2005

Now, in the quantum moment before the closure, when all become one. One moment left. One point of space and time.

I know who you are. You are destiny.


YF-23 posted:

It's been happening to me occasionally when I play with a friend. I thought discord/the discord overlay might be the culprit but I have 0 real evidence for it.

No harm in closing discord for a few sessions to test, I mostly use it on phone anyway when I'm not on voice chat.

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