The Official Souls Forum (Demon/DS1/DS2)

[GRs_Prince]

The boss was hella easy.

im trying to beat the game without going into any bonfire im still scared since i know im going to shrine of amana that shit is annoying as hell

 

[smokey]

Currently building my strength build up atm for PVP.

Currently most viable thing i have tried, and ruining most people due to the moveset and ability to kill people through just stamina management and blockstun.

No armour for pvp benefit, sometimes using Gyrm legs as they look cool, and sometimes prisoner hood as it makes my guy look like the nutter he is.
Ring of blades (+1 atm but will have +2 when i man up)
Chloranthy ring +2
Stone Ring
4th slot usually bellkeeper seal, but giants ring or old sun ring would be good additions, though i dont feel right using old sun ring as i hate fighting against it so much.

Dual clubs+10 as my main source of offence. The standard r1 attack has good reach and speed, and the followup R1 being a horizontal swing helps a bunch. Without powerstance you can abuse the range, speed and stun of the r1 attack, by cancelling the recovery into the opposite hands R1(l1) attack. With my current 20 END i can swing 5 times (r1, l1, r1, l1, r1) before i bottom out my energy bar, so on a successful hit i get stunlock + 4 hits which are unavoidable. At any point in this 5 hit flurry on hit or block you can use the forward +r1/l1 giving you an answer to people with good stability on their shield. People can roll away from the forward r1 attack, but its kinda hard to do while being forced into your shield by a guy windmilling you with clubs.

With powerstance i can put good pressure on slower/heavier armoured enemies with the L1 attack, and can also be followed up with an R1 or guard break. Not as all purpose as the standard r1/l1 flurry, but has its moments.

The real winner here is the Large Club +10 which i keep in my pants (or in my ass who knows how he does it).

If i counterhit someone or they have real low defense/bad shield, or if i get a forward r1 during hitstun or blockstun, i can just get out my large club and the riposte is insta-kill.

Somehow with 2 clubs + large club + some unforseen luck i am at like 69.8% equip load, and my ADP is at 20.

You would be a fool to ring that bell, trust me!

 

[Juggs]

So how are you guys feeling about PvP at the moment? Personally, I find it all just a bit braindead currently.

Firstly, stun locking is a real problem. There's a lot of weapons and set-ups you can use to infinitely stun lock your opponent. And even if you don't infinitely stun lock, you at least get 2-3 hits each time you hit your opponent as long as they're in range. This devolves close range duels into literally mashing R1/RB until your opponent can get out of the stun lock.

Mid range combat is a little better. There's more spacing and strategy involved. But this is where phantom ranges come into play. You can almost never space properly because you have to account for the weapons range plus the phantom range which happens to be random. Dead angling is still somewhat effective, but since poise doesn't matter (at least not how it did in DS1), you can just get poked out of it rendering it ineffective a lot of the time. Poise not working the same way is also why stun locking is sooo broke in this game. People may have complained about poise in DS1, but the poise system actually worked, it just needed a nerfing. Since you can't tank hits, spears and longer ranged weapons at the mid/close range distance are really hard to compete with.

Long range combat is just herp derp really. Casting is really good and powerful in DS2, and there's a wide variety you can use. I've been absolutely bodying people with Sorcery+Pyromancy, they can't even really get near me. Homing Soulmass, spam homing soul arrows and soul spears, when they try to get in, soulmass releases, switch to great combussion... and GG. Although, if they do get in, I get stun locked to death so I guess that balances it out somewhat.

Winning in PvP just doesn't feel rewarding in this game. Since everything is braindead, the skill gap is almost not even noticeable. I don't feel like I won because I'm the better player... I feel like I won because my broken shit worked before his did. It's not satisfying, it feels worse than Marvel actually.

All this said, I'm still having fun with PvP. I just don't see people trying to level up in PvP like they did in DS1. At least the PvE is spot on, but even that gets tedious at times.

 

[smokey]

So how are you guys feeling about PvP at the moment? Personally, I find it all just a bit braindead currently.

Seems like hitting someone in pvp is really rewarding now. The changes to poise makes it so regardless of your armour, if you get hit, you feel it. And on the flipside, dodging is somewhat more rewarding as with successful dodges you avoid 100% stunlock combos, so there is that.

Spacing and punishing is HARD. Not impossible, but damn hard. Getting clipped by a double invisible range short sword swing into combo of death gets really old, but thats kind of the point now, not getting hit is a goal and i think it balances the dex/str damage gap a little bit. Dex gains you access to faster weapons with more of a pokey/counter style, gaining your majority damage through stun/poise breaking (and a good amount of dex weapons have like 150% counter damage), rather than slow traditional battering.

Some of the spells are a bit of a pain, a mixture of homing soulmass, soul greatsword and the various speed missiles you can cast to fry peoples brains, with the added ability to cancel spellcasts, you can easily bait people into rolling or using too much stamina to effectively beat you. Some pyromancies and hexes are really powerful, though they seem to have bad tracking and a somewhat slow recovery. Miracles are kinda cool, though healing is frowned upon in pvp, if you invested in that faith and you found an opening to full cast your heal, fucking well played to you sir. Estus in duels is kinda dumb though, as in many invading situations only one side has access to it.

WOG is dumb, MLGS is dumb, Spin 2 win is dumb, Old sun ring is dumb.

Stacking enchantments/elemental damage is REALLY effective, as theres a few good combinations (Dark weapon + dark imbue + resonant weapon. Fire imbue + flame weapon. Sunlight blade + lightning. Magic + CMW) you can really abuse the fact that nobody is specialising their resistances.

"Winning in PvP just doesn't feel rewarding in this game. Since everything is braindead, the skill gap is almost not even noticeable. I don't feel like I won because I'm the better player... I feel like I won because my broken shit worked before his did. It's not satisfying, it feels worse than Marvel actually."

I want to agree with this, but at this point in time people are still trying to find what works. There seems to be a pretty obvious counter to most tactics, though the way the game throws you face first into a fight against a completely random build/playstyle each time, you dont get much room for error while figuring out how you will play around it with your own build.

 

[Chakk dizzle]

Guys this is just how dark souls was at release. It evolved past it and was also patched. It will evolve.

 

[Qwark28]

what I think is that if you haven't played demons souls then you won't like this pvp. Every single ds build relied on hitstun, bls, faith crescents, double uchis guard break hit repeat till dead. Except dbs which had a top tier rolling and running atk for 1.1/1.3k dmg. Back then we had to deal with godlike rolls that had double the invinc frames of dks rolls and cost waaaayvless stamina

the motto was you had godlike defense that you shouldn't, got hit? Gtgudfgt. Now defense is balanced and whoever has better spacing and footsies wins, hell, most combos only take 60-80% of your life now

 

[smokey]

what I think is that if you haven't played demons souls then you won't like this pvp. Every single ds build relied on hitstun, bls, faith crescents, double uchis guard break hit repeat till dead. Except dbs which had a top tier rolling and running atk for 1.1/1.3k dmg. Back then we had to deal with godlike rolls that had double the invinc frames of dks rolls and cost waaaayvless stamina

the motto was you had godlike defense that you shouldn't, got hit? Gtgudfgt. Now defense is balanced and whoever has better spacing and footsies wins, hell, most combos only take 60-80% of your life now

You prefer this way with no poise/tanking? I actually like the fact you get to follow up a good hit, makes fights less about damage and more about finding openings while not overstretching and getting killed.

 

[Qwark28]

back in ds we had a rule, no grass was optional, 3 was the standard in tourneys and duels. Someone who grassed a lot was branded a cow

 

[Qwark28]

You prefer this way with no poise/tanking? I actually like the fact you get to follow up a good hit, makes fights less about damage and more about finding openings while not overstretching and getting killed.

I don't, just stating old time pvp. In ds you could roll at anytime and dodge most shit, roll had invincibility from start to almost end and reached super far. Right now I like the damage rebalance, hate phantom hits. I dodge 5 orbs, get hit by one magically, add a phantom swing too and I'm half life for no reason

 

[smokey]

I don't, just stating old time pvp. In ds you could roll at anytime and dodge most shit, roll had invincibility from start to almost end and reached super far. Right now I like the damage rebalance, hate phantom hits. I dodge 5 orbs, get hit by one magically, add a phantom swing too and I'm half life for no reason

Phantom hits are so much worse when you dont even get a hit animation. when i get hit from 2 foot away from their swing, get stunned and hit, fair enough, this is DS2.

When i roll seemingly fine through a swing, and then 2 seconds later notice that i just lost 60% of my health with no evidence of getting hit, thats the BS.
Seems more common with giant soul spears taking 1000 damage without you noticing while rolling forwards....

 

[Rickyraws]

Wow man, my character is so OP I'm thinking of respecing.....

All solo:
2-3 shotted final boss.

2 shotted Darklurker (lol didn't even see his other 'form')

About to go 3 shot Ancient Dragon. NG++++ version of Giant Lord now starts running from me...


I was pure melee in both Demons' Souls and Dark Souls. Didn't realize how down right trivial mage capabilities could be.

Dueled for a few minutes. 1 shotted one guy, killed an other guy and reacquainted another with the broad end of my +5 Crystal magic infused Moonlight Greatsword as he desperately chugged on his Estus after running away from my dispature of justice. Then I stopped because I felt like a scumbag.

I was using the default staff and weak spells while asceticing bosses like Freja and still winning easily. Then I figured I'd stop being silly and actually use good equipment and spells. Now I feel dirty. I'm STILL in NG!

@Qwark28 I have chosen not to invade you as I wanted to before. It wouldn't be fair for you. I don't want to traumatize you

Warning to all my Dark Souls brethren: If you find yourself invaded by a character that looks like Killer Frost and is wielding a sublimely beautiful greatsword that gleams in the moonlight, disconnect immediately.

 

[Solid]

Loving the Drangleic sword so far... Similar to the Claymore but cooler..

 

[Solid]

Also many noobs/scrubs in DKS2. Seems they've never seen the whiffed R1 bait into Leo Ring R2 thrust.

 

[Chakk dizzle]

Hilarious how bad the white ring confuses people that you invade/red soap stone. You come running at them from somewhere else in the area and they still don't realize you aren't really a white phantom. It seems like as long as I do a wave gesture and point to the nearest enemy they fall for it 8/10 times. Shows how bad people are.

 

[LEGEND]

My only issues with pvp are the counter damage rings (thorns/old sun) and the spices, really dumb that you can use the most powerful spells with almost no investment into intelligence,faith or att (also thanks to the southern ritual band, ring of intelligence/prayer)

i don't really have an issue with magic, just thats its really dumb that a pure build can use CMW, sunlight blade, Wog, dark storm ect with next to no sacrifice

 

[Juggs]

Finally got the MLGS. Did the Bonefire Aesthetic thing. Man, trying to kill Freja on NG+ mode is a nightmare, especially at SL90. Summoning the NPC is the ONLY way I could kill that damn spider. That place is bar none the worst place in all of the Souls games. Spiders can go die in a fire, and then get fucked.

It really sucks that my #1 favorite weapon in DS1 is so overused and overpowered in DS2. Even before the game came out I was hoping it would be in the game, but man, I guess everyone else felt the same way. Such an awesome weapon, there really needs to be more completely unique weapons like it.

Fyi, if you wanna get it in NG and you're using the Aesthetic, make sure you use it on the lower bonfire. I made the mistake of using it on the top one which was a waste.

 

[GRs_Prince]

well after knowing how to get the second ring *beat the game without resting @ any bonfire *
i feel so fucking stupid

 

[Rickyraws]

Hahahaha, some scumbag has been attempting to invade people coming to fight the Ancient Dragon all morning. He invades RIGHT before the boss door so that everyone would be nice and weak from the staircase battle. He bit off more than he could chew. Even with his larger than life shield and multiple attempts, he went down easy, and I didn't have any summoned help with me. You're a disgrace to the Dark Wraiths of yore.

Mr. MOMONGA2, I recommend taking your daily dose of git gud.

I love this damn game.

 

[Qwark28]

I beat the game having forgotten you can use 4 rings

 

[Rickyraws]

I beat the game having forgotten you can use 4 rings

You aren't the only one, it seems. I've heard from a bunch of people who did the same.

 

[Smoke_Of_Finland]

I used an ascetic on the first bonfire of Iron keep. With jester gloves/hat and covetous silver serpent ring +1 (I don't have the gold ring), you get almost 2K souls from regular Alonne knights, 4K from captains and then there are 4 black phantom Alonne captains that drop 6K souls.

Btw. does anybody use Arced sword or other curved greatswords in PVE or PVP?

 

[Smoke_Of_Finland]

There are major issues with hit registering and laggy phantom hitboxes. You can get hit by spells from a mile away and through walls in pvp. I got invaded in Huntsman's copse by a guy wearing some rags for armor and using an uchigatana 2-handed. I hit him multiple times when he was just standing close enough to get clipped by Claymore R1, I hear a thud, but the guy takes no dmg and no form break and proceeds to roll after he gets hit. I asked him how much adaptability he had and he said 30... and yeah I get stunlocked from a single 2-hand katana hit when I am wearing Alonne captain armor, Alonne knight leggings/gloves and Heide iron mask, I think I have around 85 poise with that gear and another time I was wearing smelter demon helmet and elite knight gloves and got stunlocked by a 1-hand heide knight sword r1. I like being a straight-up tank for PVE, but for PVP this build sucks and I am either going to have to respec or overlevel. Dex weapons seem better this time with poise not broken and 2-handing a washing pole would be pretty good for PVP I think.

 

[Juggs]

The length of this game is definitely a lot longer than DS1. There's also so many different areas and tons of secrets and storylines. Still haven't beaten the game. I had 40 hours into my first character, have over 30 in my new character. I like that there's a ton of content, but man, I want to get to NG+!

 

[Qwark28]

So am I the only one who really only plays this shit for PvP and looks for speedruns so I can quickly make new builds? I like the story and will look for it online and pay attention to stuff but when a man wanna pvp a man wanna pvp.

 

[ryumanjisen]

So am I the only one who really only plays this shit for PvP and looks for speedruns so I can quickly make new builds? I like the story and will look for it online and pay attention to stuff but when a man wanna pvp a man wanna pvp.

Probably you're not the only one, but I've always liked the Souls sage for its single player experience rather than for the online play (including PVP). Don't get me wrong, I'm having tons of fun pvping in this game, but for me it's just an addition. Though I really like the combat system, with all the phantom hitboxes and the laggy backstabs around, I can't take it as seriouly as, for example, a fighting game.