Saw off Iron Golem last night before bed, which took a lot longer than I thought it might because my damn weapons barely scratched him. Took to running around and pinging him with sorcery which was a faff but not much trouble in the end.

I can assert to the might of the Tarkus. I was invaded by a Darkmoon Blade just before that boss. I didn't even need to engage him - Tarkus just strolled up and knocked him off the walkway.

He's a beast.

Gremill wrote:

I'm SL80, where's the best place for summons signs do you reckon?

It's kinda tricky. You'll still get some at the s and o bonfires, what with the 10 levels either side rule, but it'll defo be a little sparing, compared to doing it while you're 50-60. Still, given you can keep cycling through the silver knights, it's kinda cool as an area, plus you may get the odd NG+ invite, which is worth 75k+.

I see very few summons down in nito's/tog, but I reckon both 4k (on the little platform on the way to first two ghosts) and seath (in front of the bonfire near the c caves entrance/secret door) are worth trying.

Also, if you've got the final section open, then it's always worth dropping just inside the kiln. If they want help with Gwyn, then sure, that's 70k+ for you. If they want help with pvp, then you get to try your hand with no risk, and potential big rewards.

I reckon it's always handy to be able to do housework within view of the TV if you can. I'll drop a summon, farm the area, then go and hang washing or do dishes and head back when I get summoned. I get heaps done that way!

heh. It doesn't actually work if your level is too close to spot on for an area, you just keep getting summoned.

Oh, this'll probably be handy...

(Ignore the stuff at the bottom re sunlight covie for the moment.)

You can't give the embers to anyone but the right person so yes.

I'd also advise you to keep out of NL for the time being, no good will come of being there.

M0stly_harm13ss wrote:

Tempy wrote:

I'd also advise you to keep out of NL for the time being, no good will come of being there.

This. What have you done so far? It's great to wander around and get your shit fucked up (especially when you go round a corner to find yourself in an area you recognise, the way the world links together is just fantastic), but the first main questline isn't well signposted.

Yeah, but it's probably also a good time, once you're at the parish, and with the burg and firelink connected, to just run around. If you're not holding many souls (in the bottom right) just go nuts and look around, if you die, you die.

Thinking of mixing up my play route and doing NL and The Catacombs before I go to AL. Both were a total pushover by the time I got to them last game so I fancy a bit of a challenge.

Yep, that was my thinking. By the time I actually got 20 flasks going last time I was pretty much finished. Besides, I'll be heading for Dukes asap for crystal spells from Logan so I want to plunder the handy bits early for there.

Stat scaling. The BKGS has great strength scaling and is basically a massive Two-Handed sword. The BKS doesn't scale quite as well with STR as the latter if I recall. I take it you know about the existance of the Wikis for this game? If not, go look at them as they will explain weapon classes and differences and all that. Simply put, BKS - Mid Speed/High Damage, BKGS - Low Speed/Ultra Damage.

ZMM wrote:

Thanks. I think I'll get the required strength to heave the BKGS effectively and see how fast the swings are then make a decision based on that. Think I just worked out how magic works too, haha.

My personal preference is for the BKS, as the animations for the R1 attack on BKGS is... cumbersome, to say the least. One handing BKS, if you sprint, gives you an awesome twirling attack, and whilst the R1 attack is still slow, it's not too slow to not be of use.

But still, horses for courses I guess.

I can one hand the BKGS and It OHKOs Silver Knights in AL so yeah, weapon ov choyz

Where are you up to ZMM?

as I said, all the bk gear is fine and all, but you must be stupidly over the top level wise, and also underdone for END and probably a couple of other things. And if you start using magic, you're gonna find levelling up uber expensive.

I guess the one good thing with the bk gear is that it's pretty solid for damage against all enemies. It just kinda does what it does. Also, I remember you said you took down the butterfly and got the divine ember, unless you're putting souls into Faith, DON'T make divine weapons. Or rather, make one, just in case, but pick a cheap and easy one like the long sword or the hand axe, and take it to divine +5. You only really need it for one section.

You use green tite shards to upgrade magic, divine and fire weapons, and they're not uber easy to get early on, so don't go pissing them away.

Ah, ok, cool.

So, firstly, DON'T put any more stats into Vitality, it's a waste. Just upgrade your armor and shields. (And when you meet NPCs who sell rings, BUY THE RINGS. They'll seem expensive, but they are WELL HANDY. Early on, you can get the poisonbite and the blood ring, I'd defo get the poison bite ring. later, there's the thunderplate and another that resists magic, all well worth the investment.)

You may as well put one more point into Attunement, which will give you 3 slots (On your hud, in the bottom left, the top is for spells/miracles). Don't put more into attune unless you are going to go heavy into Magic really. At least not for a long while, there's just no need.

Working on END is a good idea, but again, you can probably sit on that for a bit.

Don't touch resistance.

Now, with STR, DEX, INT and Faith you need to make some choices. if you're enjoying the bk sword, then you're already at it's min reqs, so you should be able to use it one handed. It scales C with STR, so that means every tie you put points into STR, it's damage will go up slightly. I'd suggest that's what you want to do, pump your str up to 30-40.

Pumping both Dex and str is a waste of souls for a first playthrough. If you take dex to 22, you'll be able to wield just about everything bar the most stupidly dexy weapons.

As far as spells go, you need to make a bit of a choice.

if you've made it to the depths and have pyro hand, you can level it up seperately from your other stats. In which case, I wouldn't take INT or Faith past 14 (can be handy to take one or the other to 14 to be able to use some of the simpler spells like cast light, or simple miracles like heal)

If you want to use magic or miracles, then you're gonna have to pump points into INT (magic) or Faith (miracles). It's impractical to do all of it. (For instance, the best magic requires INT of 44 to 50, and once your overall sl is over 80ish, you're looking 40k+ to level up.)

If you're still back at the Parish and haven't been down into the basement (hint, you'll have a basement key now, which opens the door on the bridge, near where you met solaire) then you don't need to be levelling up for a good long while. Upgrade weapons, upgrade shields, upgrade armor, buy some rings.

shorter version:

Vitality 17 (Don't upgrade more)
Attunement 12 (take to 13)
Endurance 17 (upgrade when you can, but don't go nuts.)
Strength 19 (Pump points into this if you like the bk gear)
Dexterity 19 (take to 22 just so you can use most things)
Resistance 13 (Don't touch)
Intelligence 11 (Don't touch, or take to 14, unless you want to use lots of magic)
Faith 11 . (Don't touch, or take to 14, unless you want to use lots of miracles)

After two months away from this game I decided to boot it up again on Tuesday night.

Only up to the steel pig at the Parish, but I'm slightly concerned that I've forgotten NOTHING in the time off. Not even rusty with the controls, in spite of playing a handful of games with similar but different control set ups. Game gets in your head, proper like.

Trying out the magical side of things this time. The first spell is making a mokery of the corpse men so haven't had to even think about levelling up. Haven't died yet, but the ensuing cockiness I'm getting from staying alive will mean some peasant will give me a hiding before too long.

Now am already thinking about Strength and Faith buids, as well as a Deprived who is only allowed to level up his/her resistance stat.

Thought I had moved on from this game. It's like the freaking Mafia.