The Official Souls Forum (Demon/DS1/DS2)

[BaronVonRupert]

Are there any strength weapons that have uninterruptable attacks? (like the meat cleaver in Demon's Souls). I am getting stunlocked by whips...

if you stack poise i believe that it adds hyper armor to your attacks.

 

[Smoke_Of_Finland]

if you stack poise i believe that it adds hyper armor to your attacks.

I know, but in PVP it seems kinda useless.

OK this answers it.... Poise was broken in DKS1, but this is ridiculous. I was hoping there would be some kind of thresholds, but it looks like trading hits in PVP is not a viable strategy in this game.

 

[BaronVonRupert]

OK this answers it.... Poise was broken in DKS1, but this is ridiculous. I was hoping there would be some kind of thresholds, but it looks like trading hits in PVP is not a viable strategy in this game.

to.your.attacks.
in that video the guy just stood there. i'm pretty sure it's only really effective if you're already attacking. i'm not 100% on how it works but i know i've tanked through hits with high poise but only when i was in an attack.

 

[Smoke_Of_Finland]

to.your.attacks.
in that video the guy just stood there. i'm pretty sure it's only really effective if you're already attacking. i'm not 100% on how it works but i know i've tanked through hits with high poise but only when i was in an attack.

How much poise? Have you ever traded hits while getting hit from a 2-hand Katana R1 without being staggered?

 

[Killphil]

How much poise? Have you ever traded hits while getting hit from a 2-hand Katana R1 without being staggered?

I think poise comes into effect depending on the attack you're doing. I've stuffed attacks with 2h R2 swing with the great club that has 1000+ frames of startup. I think power stance also gives you some sort of anti-stagger boost. I.E. - Some dude throwing lightning bolts at me and it staggers me..I switch to caestus power stance and walk through a lightning bolt and attack him in his recovery. Maybe the size/weight of your weapon plays into it as well? Idk.

 

[BaronVonRupert]

How much poise? Have you ever traded hits while getting hit from a 2-hand Katana R1 without being staggered?

i mostly remember it being 1 handed attacks and it happened most commonly against thrusting weapons like the rapier or estoc. i use the smelter set with the mad warrior mask so however much that adds up to. i'm not sure if you can go through 2h attacks at all but it might be possible.
wish there was some concrete info out there on this kind of stuff.

 

[smokey]

to.your.attacks.
in that video the guy just stood there. i'm pretty sure it's only really effective if you're already attacking. i'm not 100% on how it works but i know i've tanked through hits with high poise but only when i was in an attack.

@Smoke_Of_Finland Different weapons have different levels of poise damage on their attacks, if you are mid-swing in a weapon and get hit by an attack, it will damage your poise similar to DS1 and enough poise damage will interrupt swings. The difference from DS1 is that poise no longer works if you arent swinging, so you cant walk through attacks and backstab. Also this poise takes like 15-20 seconds to refill, in DS1 it was like 5 seconds. So now you can only poise-tank hits if you are swinging, and only 1 swing per 20 seconds will have the "super armour" effect.
Note also your opponents poise-damage on their weapon will be taken into account if you are trading attacks, so quite often you just stagger each other and both have to roll away.

 

[Qwark28]

@Smoke_Of_Finland Different weapons have different levels of poise damage on their attacks, if you are mid-swing in a weapon and get hit by an attack, it will damage your poise similar to DS1 and enough poise damage will interrupt swings. The difference from DS1 is that poise no longer works if you arent swinging, so you cant walk through attacks and backstab. Also this poise takes like 15-20 seconds to refill, in DS1 it was like 5 seconds. So now you can only poise-tank hits if you are swinging, and only 1 swing per 20 seconds will have the "super armour" effect.
Note also your opponents poise-damage on their weapon will be taken into account if you are trading attacks, so quite often you just stagger each other and both have to roll away.

This is gonna be so good with a washing pole

 

[smokey]

This is gonna be so good with a washing pole

http://darksouls2.wikidot.com/poise
Washing pole comes under the 20 poise damage group as a katana, meaning at 60.5 poise you can take a 1hr1 swing from it without being interrupted. The 2hr1 has no breakpoint, meaning you cant poise-tank a hit from it. This seems to be the case with ALL 2h r2 attacks, always breaking poise.

Poise and Agility, as well as the weapon you are being hit by all seem to determine how long the hit stuns you for, but i think having more agility lets you recover faster and also your faster roll/more i frames lets you escape the combo... no actual numbers yet though.

Looks like if you have slower weapons it could be worth raising your poise to one of the breakpoints, so you can poise-tank maybe 1 hit while your poise is full and hopefully dish out reasonable damage/stun with that hit to come out ahead in life.

 

[Juggs]

@Smoke_Of_Finland Different weapons have different levels of poise damage on their attacks, if you are mid-swing in a weapon and get hit by an attack, it will damage your poise similar to DS1 and enough poise damage will interrupt swings. The difference from DS1 is that poise no longer works if you arent swinging, so you cant walk through attacks and backstab. Also this poise takes like 15-20 seconds to refill, in DS1 it was like 5 seconds. So now you can only poise-tank hits if you are swinging, and only 1 swing per 20 seconds will have the "super armour" effect.
Note also your opponents poise-damage on their weapon will be taken into account if you are trading attacks, so quite often you just stagger each other and both have to roll away.

So that's how poise works in DS2? This means dead angling is not as useless as I thought it was going to be in this game. This is pretty interesting, makes slower but more powerful weapons more useful. Meaning my Juggernaut Tank STR build could actually be viable in PvP.

It still promotes sloppyish play imo, but I'm glad poise isn't completely useless.

 

[smokey]

So that's how poise works in DS2? This means dead angling is not as useless as I thought it was going to be in this game. This is pretty interesting, makes slower but more powerful weapons more useful. Meaning my Juggernaut Tank STR build could actually be viable in PvP.

It still promotes sloppyish play imo, but I'm glad poise isn't completely useless.

http://darksouls2.wikidot.com/poise
Each weapon does a certain amount of "poise damage" and there you can see how much poise you need to be able to "tank" a hit from those weapons.

At this stage in the game i would still go for spacing and baiting. Blocking is shit because of guard break, poise is basically pointless because theres a 15second recharge time, stunlock is king. Offensive options are far better than defensive options at this point, except if you are trying to parry, if you have enough agility + poise you can get a successful parry off inbetween the hits of certain weapons, giving you basically free damage if they spam R1 into your block.

 

[Qwark28]

http://darksouls2.wikidot.com/poise
Each weapon does a certain amount of "poise damage" and there you can see how much poise you need to be able to "tank" a hit from those weapons.

At this stage in the game i would still go for spacing and baiting. Blocking is shit because of guard break, poise is basically pointless because theres a 15second recharge time, stunlock is king. Offensive options are far better than defensive options at this point, except if you are trying to parry, if you have enough agility + poise you can get a successful parry off inbetween the hits of certain weapons, giving you basically free damage if they spam R1 into your block.

Katanas seem to be wrong, I've traded blows with many people and rarely have I ever been armoured through.

 

[Juggs]

At this stage in the game i would still go for spacing and baiting. Blocking is shit because of guard break, poise is basically pointless because theres a 15second recharge time, stunlock is king. Offensive options are far better than defensive options at this point, except if you are trying to parry, if you have enough agility + poise you can get a successful parry off inbetween the hits of certain weapons, giving you basically free damage if they spam R1 into your block.

Guard break is pretty easy to avoid, as far as the forward + r1/l1 guard break. Guard breaking from successive hits is also avoidable. I never use a shield in PvP, but they are a lot better than they were in DS1. The fact that you can backstep while blocking is huge imo. But I do agree that they still aren't great in PvP compared to many other tactics. The only time I use shields in PvP is for parrying or if someone is using spin to win halberds. Parrying itself is a lot harder though because of the blocking pushback. You can react/predict first hit parries, but it's inconsistent.

 

[Juggs]

Anyone else doing or planning on doing a SL1 playthrough? I'm pretty far right now, but what's the stance on summoning people/npc's? I figure it's frowned upon in a SL1 playthrough, since the point is to challenge yourself. Also, at SL1, I summoned a guy who was SL73. Does multiplayer work only with soul memory now? Are levels not even taken into consideration? If so, I will have to continue my SL1 playthrough offline.

Anyway, using a Raw Broadsword right now. It's the best weapon, outside of a mace, that I can use. I really have only found 3 weapons I can use... other than those two it's a dagger. And the other two you have to two hand, but I two hand 99% of the time anyway in regular playthroughs. I had just a regular broadsword at +3 all the way up until I got the dull ember. I didn't want to waste any titanite on it since I was going to infuse it. Little did I know, that when you make a raw weapon, it doesn't affect the "+" that is already on the weapon. So I could've had a +7 the entire time, lol.

The playthough isn't too bad as of right now. Some really annoying parts, and still deciding on whether I should go naked or just wear light armor. Both seem to have their advantages. Wish you could buy infinite poison throwing knives, they definitely came in handy against the two giants (from which you get the forgotten key). Also, still deciding if I wanna do an all bosses run for this. There's some bosses, like the chariot, that I absolutely despise and definitely don't even wanna attempt at SL1.

I wonder if there's any SL1 Arena type PvP...

 

[G4S KT]

Avelyn is gdlk.

Most satisfying shit to hit with.

 

[BaronVonRupert]

Anyone else doing or planning on doing a SL1 playthrough? I'm pretty far right now, but what's the stance on summoning people/npc's? I figure it's frowned upon in a SL1 playthrough, since the point is to challenge yourself.

correct. i may try one but i want to sink more hours into the game until i know it forward and back so it'll be more smooth. i'll also probably throw some added challenges in there for myself like no healing/armor/sheilds etc.

Also, at SL1, I summoned a guy who was SL73. Does multiplayer work only with soul memory now? Are levels not even taken into consideration? If so, I will have to continue my SL1 playthrough offline.

i think it attempts to find people within your sl and sm range and if it can't it expands the search. that's a complete guess though. could be just sm for all i know.

I wonder if there's any SL1 Arena type PvP...

doubt it. the arena seems like it has some pretty random matchmaking. i've faced dudes that seemed super high level with everything imaginable stacked and then straight after i'll face a guy that does 200 dmg on a backstab lol.

 

[Chakk dizzle]

Matchmaking goes by soul memory mainly. EVEN in ng+ regardless of what people were initially saying. This pretty much ruins coordinated pvp in the long run. Everyone will have to use the mule.

 

[Qwark28]

Safest SL in arena is 150 for PvP. You can't risk going lower than that.

I do laugh at people who are so underlevelled they barely do damage while backstabbing or hitting. It's always a bummer to have such an easy fight that is basically wasting my time.

 

[Qwark28]

Useful for miracle casters, improves power of miracles. http://darksouls2.wiki.fextralife.com/Disc+Chime#.U0Md3_l_v9U

I need to get this, a parrying dagger and a maxed out old whip.

 

[BaronVonRupert]

i just wish this game was played as the organic experience from has been trying to achieve since DS. play through the game multiple times, fight bosses with random phantoms, participate in invasions as they randomly happen or invade yourself, summon duels or go to the arena whenever you feel like it and level as much or as little as you want.

maybe in the future when there's far less players around the pvp stuff should be discussed (along with better knowledge of the game because DkS soul level was decided far too early and was 25 levels too high) but as for now i'm just having fun with my 125, 150, and 200 characters while enjoying all the content the game has to offer.

but if people want to resort to cheating to have a meta that's cool too i guess. i won't take part in that.

 

[Qwark28]

i just wish this game was played as the organic experience from has been trying to achieve since DS. play through the game multiple times, fight bosses with random phantoms, participate in invasions as they randomly happen or invade yourself, summon duels or go to the arena whenever you feel like it and level as much or as little as you want.

maybe in the future when there's far less players around the pvp stuff should be discussed (along with better knowledge of the game because DkS soul level was decided far too early and was 25 levels too high) but as for now i'm just having fun with my 125, 150, and 200 characters while enjoying all the content the game has to offer.

but if people want to resort to cheating to have a meta that's cool too i guess. i won't take part in that.

the 125 cap is just fine for every game, dks1 changed very little compared to des when it comes to lvls.

and the game has always been about pvp, ever since the japs got a hold of it.

 

[BaronVonRupert]

the 125 cap is just fine for every game, dks1 changed very little compared to des when it comes to lvls.

actually in DS i believe diminishing returns kicked in full force at around 50 for a few stats which would account for the extra levels the way i see it. even then, the cap for that game was 120 rather than 125 so it was actually lower. 100 was plenty in DkS imo. 125 just allowed me to make builds that were way over the top. at 100, those builds would have to have less end, vit, poise etc. and i'd actually have to make some sacrifices.
at 125 i had a gold tracer build with nearly 2000 vit, 650+ defense in blue tearstone, full giants, black knight and crest shields, and 16 black flames (courtesy of Kobra).
125 was cool in it's own right just like sl80 or 200 are interesting in their own ways but i think 100 has much better balance than 125. but as we can see most people didn't agree with that but i didn't mind. i just did my own thing and let everyone do theirs.

weirdly enough, i feel that 150 is too low in DkS II. i want to make a 175 and see how that is but i'm leaning closer to 200. the game seems open at that point and can be very diverse.

 

[smokey]

Useful for miracle casters, improves power of miracles. http://darksouls2.wiki.fextralife.com/Disc Chime#.U0Md3_l_v9U

I need to get this, a parrying dagger and a maxed out old whip.

This is a bad shield with a bad chime stuck to it, its kinda pointless when you can have a good shield and a good chime.
http://darksouls2.wiki.fextralife.com/Dragon+Chime#.U0O0APldVeg Has double the base damage, is S scaling in faith, and you can infuse it with lightning to give higher faith scaling still.

 

[XBlades]

So I'm stuck on smelter demon.. Any ideas? I am SL 99 vit 24 end 22 start 22 Dex 30 str 30 I am a physical build most likely going for str beyond this point to lvl 120

 

[LEGEND]

So I'm stuck on smelter demon.. Any ideas? I am SL 99 vit 24 end 22 start 22 Dex 30 str 30 I am a physical build most likely going for str beyond this point to lvl 120

its an optional boss, you can go back later if you are having trouble