Dark Souls: Prepare to Die Edition(360,PS3,PC)v3 - Dark Magic is perfectly balanced - Games

[img]http://i.imgur.com/CTFR7.jpg[/img] Merry Christmas! If you're reading this, you're either the 1% of people who actually read the OP, or someone (probably me) has directed you here instead of explaining all this for the seven hundredth time. [B]First things first. If you haven't played the game, play (and beat, or at least get to the Kiln) the game.[/B] This is not one of those games where you can (or should) jump directly into PvP without getting your ass handed to you repeatedly. Usually by people like me who enjoy that sort of thing. If you have PvE questions, ask them in the thread. If you have PvP questions, chances are I'm about to answer them. [B]PvP Explanations/FAQ/Whatever[/B] [B]Information Breakdown:[/B] 1. Stat Selection 2. Weapon Types 3. Poise 4. Armor/Accessories 5. Consumables 6. Locations ---------------------- [B]1. STAT SELECTION[/B] A PvP build really revolves around how you distribute your stats. The common level breakpoints are 50-70 & 100-120. [B]Note that every stat (including Vitality/End) have diminishing returns above 40, so usually that's a good place to stop.[/B] [B]Strength & Dexterity[/B] Generally speaking, you'll first want to put all your points into your chosen weapon stat (strength or dex, mostly). Once you've hit the requirements, you either want to up it to approximately 40 (for +15 weapons w/ buffs), or stay at the requirement for elemental (Fire/Chaos/Lightning) weapons. When you do that, you usually distribute the remaining points into Vitality and Endurance. This is usually referred to as a [I]vit gouge[/I] build, due to some Demon's Souls nonsense I can't remember. These builds tend to have higher health/endurance, at the cost of versatility. Dexterity also allows spells to be cast faster, which is why dex/faith and dex/int builds are so common. Fast weapons + weapon buff + fast spells = ow. [B]Vitality & Endurance[/B] Vitality controls your health, endurance is your stamina (how long you can run/how much you can hold your shield/how much you can carry). There are equipment carry breakpoints that affect running speed and rolling speed. At <25%, you roll at your absolute fastest. You should TRY to aim for this as it's generally the easiest way to dodge things. At 25-50%, you medium "mid" roll, which is okay most of the time. Sometimes in PvP you'll get hit at the end of a roll but that's generally lag and can't really be helped. At >50%, you fat roll, you fatty. Don't do this, it's a nice giant BACKSTAB ME gesture. Generally, your vitality will be higher than endurance. [B]DO NOT PUT POINTS INTO RESISTANCE. DO NOT PUT POINTS INTO RESISTANCE.[/B] In case you missed that, [B]DO NOT PUT POINTS INTO RESISTANCE.[/B] Resistance is a shit stat that's only there to fuck up new players. Theoretically it increases your resistance (oddly enough) to poison, burning (which I'm pretty sure is lava), and toxic, but there's absolutely no reason to care about that stat at all because of certain items that we'll talk about eventually. [B]Intelligence & Faith[/B] Int and Faith are both secondary stats that affect certain weapons' scaling, as well as contribute to the damage of Magic Spells (Int) or Miracles (Faith). The most common ones are the weapon buffs, namely Crystal Magic Weapon (INT) or Sunlight/Darkmoon Blade (FAI). [B]Attunement[/B] Controls how many slots you have available to put spells in. ---------------------- [B]1.A. My Common Builds/Templates[/B] I'm just going to include some of my old build ideas in here. The weapons are just weapons I used when I used the build, you can do whatever you want with them. For the sake of convenience, I'm capping them all at 55. [B]Build 1 - INT Build[/B] [img]http://i.imgur.com/jwy4Q.png[/img] I use this as my Duke's invasion build. It is not a nice thing to do, but oh well. Welcome to Dark Souls. I kept STR and DEX as low as I possibly could while still being able to use the weapons I want. Attunement is 16 to fit the spells I wanted to use, Intelligence is 32 to meet the min requirement for Pursuers. The rest was split equally into Vitality and Endurance. (Usually you should split 60/40, not 50/50.) [B]Build 2 - STR Build[/B] [img]http://i.imgur.com/9YRCA.png[/img] An example of a Strength build. (Ignore the clothes.) The weapon is interchangeable, obviously. Strength is at 40 in order to A) wield the weapon (strength weapons can be really heavy), and B) to take advantage of diminishing returns, Strength was set to the highest it could go without being less effective. The remaining points were split (slightly more appropriately than the first build) between Vitality and Endurance. [B]Build 3 - DEX/INT Build[/B] [img]http://i.imgur.com/9hLLu.png[/img] As you can see, the problem with hybrid builds like this is that you end up with lower health/endurance. The tradeoff is that you do SIGNIFICANTLY higher damage than other builds. This health disparity tends to even out at higher levels, but again I'm just using ones at SL55 so you can see the differences between them. These are just templates, really. I'm showing you possible builds and trying to explain the rationale behind my choices. Feel free to build how you want, that's the real fun. ----------------------- [B]2. Weapon Types[/B] As I said before, there are two major stats for weapons: Strength and Dex. There are basically two categories of weapons: Strength weapons, which are generally big, heavy, and slow...and Dex weapons, which are smaller/nimble, light, and fast. Obviously, Strength weapons tend to do more damage at the cost of speed, vice versa for Dex weapons. There are also certain oddball weapons that require a secondary stat like Faith or Int. Usually those are used as secondary weapons when buffs run out (I'll get to buffs soon.) On that note, to cast magic you need [I]Catalysts[/I], and to cast miracles you need [I]Talismans.[/I] The most common weapons (in my experience) are as follows: [I]STR Builds[/I] Great Club Black Knight Great Axe Demon Great Machete Man-Serpent Greatsword Grant (STR/FAI Hybrid) [I]DEX Builds[/I] Uchigatana Iaito Washing Pole Shotel Velka's Rapier (DEX/INT Hybrid) The movesets of weapons are EXTREMELY important and will really set the limits to your ability in PvP. Most weapons have unique movesets, so experiment with the weapon you feel comfortable with and then work from there. Also, let us not forget the humble Pyro Hand. It is dangerous, it is not forgiving. Learn to use it and it will benefit you. ------------------------ [B]3. Poise[/B] This probably should go with/after Armor, but I feel it's an important segue. Poise is a "hidden" stat. (Technically it's on your character page so it's blatantly obvious, but you'd be surprised how many people ignore it.) Poise is a passive that dictates how much damage/how hard you get hit before you get knocked down or staggered. Weapons do "poise damage", and when your poise damage exceeds your poise, you get knocked back. Luckily, we're smart and we know exactly how much poise you need to be able to ignore x amount of hits from common weapon classes. [I]Poise Breakdown[/I] 0 - 30 poise: You'll get stumbled by everything except Rapier 2H R1s and Dagger 2H R1s. So, for all intents and purposes, it's pretty crap. 31 - 52 poise: You can take a hit from everything smaller than Greatswords (and clubs and axes, which cause a bizarre amount of poise damage) 53 - 75: You can take a hit from everything except the giant weapons, which you really shouldn't get hit by anyway. 76+: Voila, you're completely resistant to knockback (at least for one hit), and you're probably too heavy to move. Time to pelt you with arrows. There's really no point trying to hit monstrous levels of poise (I've seen people with 135.) Really, you should find a breakpoint and hit that and then not worry about it. I tend to stop at ~53, just because I know I can avoid greatswords, but sometimes I get hit with the smaller stuff. It's up to you, but remember that higher poise = heavier armor, and you still want to be mobile if possible. ------------------------ [B]4. Armor and Accessories[/B] When picking armor, you want to choose based on two criteria: 1. Poise 2. [B][I][U]SWAG[/U][/I][/B] The order you prioritize those in is up to you, but a real man kicks ass while looking fantastic. My personal suggestion for 76 poise (which I imagine most of you will probably aim for if you're new) is Havel's Gauntlets/Havel's Pants + Eastern Chest + Sealer Hat. You're color coordinated and look scary. More importantly, you look fucking [I]good.[/I] There's a link to an armor optimizer further down the page, it should tell you the best combo of armor to get the best poise:weight ratio. But you'll look like shit, so it's your call. As for accessories, you're dealing with rings. Rings are really important, but if you've played PvE you probably know this. [B]Most common rings & what they do:[/B] [I]Ring of Favor and Protection[/I]: Increases health, endurance, carry weight, and stamina. Almost every build uses this ring, and for good reason. Nothing like a free stat boost. It does break if you try to take it off, though, so try not to take it off if you ever want to use it again. [I]Hornet Ring[/I]: Increases backstab damage. Always nice to have, but be careful about using it. Usually when people use it, they get tunnel vision and ABSOLUTELY MUST GET A BACKSTAB. If you do this, you will get counter-backstabbed. It will not be difficult to do and you will regret it. So just be careful. [I]Wolf Ring[/I]: Adds 40 poise. Very useful if you want to stay light on your feet but still need poise. I use it on most of my builds, but that's because I love to roll quickly so I can't sacrifice weight to get better poise armor. [I]Havel's Ring[/I]: Increases carrying capacity by 30%: Very nice at earlier levels, not so much at later levels. [I]Bellowing Dragoncrest Ring[/I]: Increases pyromancy/magic damage by 30%. Very useful for magic-heavy builds. Ultimately, your ring choices are all about personal preference, there is no wrong choice. (unless you go like...iron ring and tiny being. That's just wrong.) ---------------------- [B]5. Consumables[/B] These are items that you can use to help you out. Most common is Green Blossom, by far. Increases stamina regen speed. You can buy them from the merchant in Sen's Fortress. Other common choices are moss clumps, which cure bleed build-up, poison, and toxic; poison throwing knives in case you want to poison your enemy from a distance, and humanities, for those times when you're invading (or not) and need a full heal quickly. Do not do this in a "fair" fight or you're a jerk. ------------------------ [B]6. Where should I invade?[/B] I was going to make a table but they seem complicated so fuck it. [B]1-10:[/B] Please do not do this, you'll run into twinks 100% of the time. [B]11-20:[/B] The Depths, if you're either an asshole or masochistic. Or both. [B]21-30:[/B] Blighttown. You're a dick. [B]31-45:[/B] Now we're talking. Sen's Playground of Terror is where you should be. (Invade from the Sen's bonfire, not Parish.) [B]46-55:[/B] Anor Londo. Whoo! [B]56-??:[/B] Here's where it's kind of odd. Really, you can invade ANYWHERE. Try to stick to the lordvessel areas, obviously...Duke's gets action from 55-90, haven't tried most of the other places. [B]xx-100:[/B] Kiln/DLC areas. [B]!!!-!!!:[/B] WARNING. You can invade in the forest, but good luck with that. You'll be triple-teamed. A lot. F- would not go again. ------------------- That's pretty much all the basic knowledge I can think of right now. On with the rest of the thread! >Wiki: [url]http://darksouls.wikidot.com/[/url] >Summoning 101 (Everything you thought you knew was a lie) [url]http://forums.steampowered.com/forums/showthread.php?t=2959611[/url] >Lore - Questions and Theories: [url]https://docs.google.com/document/d/1SWU9Z-LTJsX2Yryktsb8sTnzjbrePdgIFiGIkkY5n5A/edit[/url] >NPC dialogues and missing content: [url]http://pastebin.com/XuwvnyM9[/url] >Character Planner [url]http://mugenmonkey.com/darksouls/[/url] >Build Gallery (Middle click the images) [url]http://darksoulsbuilds.imgur.com/all/[/url] >Terminology [url]http://darksouls.wikidot.com/terminology[/url] >Dark Souls Design Work scans [url]http://www.mediafire.com/?qjjbxa55348r8[/url] >Armor optimizer [url]http://www.raymondhill.net/darksouls/darksouls-armor-calc.php[/url] >DSfix for PC v 1.9 (TURN OFF IN-GAME AA) [url]http://blog.metaclassofnil.com/?tag=dsfix[/url] >Dark Souls Mouse Fix [url]http://pages.cs.wisc.edu/~petska/[/url] >PC ambient sound fix (affects anyone without 5.1 speakers) [url]http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showpost.php?p=41642354&postcount=3568[/url] >Port forwarding guide [url]http://portforward.com/english/applications/port_forwarding/Games_for_Windows_-_LIVE/default.htm[/url] >Face customization guide [url]http://imgur.com/a/SARvG[/url] >CE 101 / Character and Textures 102 (Now with fall break and egghead) [url]http://pastebin.com/DMJNSH1r[/url] How to access the new content: >Kill hydra, save dusk, place lordvessel, kill blue golem in Dook's, return to cove, acquire anal devastation [B]Image dump for posts and inspiration. Probably nsfw somehow. Stop browsing the internet at work anyway, that's just your fault.[/B] [URL="http://imgur.com/a/8hzqA"]http://imgur.com/a/8hzqA[/URL]

god damn that was fast. anyways back to one of my previous questions: why is it that I'm dicking around with iron, steel, and golemn armor with artorias' shield, and whenever I invade this dickhead can backstab me from the front. No not a front stab- literally when he stands in front of me for a split second hes all of a sudden behind me putting it in my bum. what the fuck.

I would have made a better OP but i want to keep invading/gloating about my loads o' souls [editline]13th November 2012[/editline] that's usually referred to as "lag"

Back to muscle wizard! Basically as soon as you see your opponent in range, cast crystal magic weapon. Pummel them to tears, and fast roll around. You're not really wearing armor so getting hit isn't a good idea, however the punches are amazing. [url]http://mugenmonkey.com/darksouls/?c=4846817397802652[/url]

how much does your punch do?

that thing does like 800+ damage, I ran around in Izalith for a while like that. It's crazy.

I love the this game's community. Some guy summoned me and sent me a message saying I was on his stream, so I hopped on his stream and said hi to everyone. The jolly cooperation is so friendly.

also if someone else wants to make an actual OP instead of being a lazy jerk then feel free

how does that even work lol. I'm looking at the build and what am I missing here?

you streamcheater [editline]13th November 2012[/editline] [QUOTE=Laferio;38431994]how does that even work lol. I'm looking at the build and what am I missing here?[/QUOTE] Sunlight/DMB adds like 350+ damage at high levels.

the dragon bone fist R2 attack is fucking badass and annihilates all in its path, I'd work on making it if I wasn't busy smashing everything as a tarkus atm

[t]http://i.imgur.com/gHjxE.jpg[/t] Eventually he'll come through this gate. And he won't like what awaits him. [B]tarkus[/B]

Yeah, basic attacks do around 100 on the plant mobs, add in crystal magic weapon and it goes 400+ [editline]13th November 2012[/editline] [QUOTE=salty peanut v2;38432036]the dragon bone fist R2 attack is fucking badass and annihilates all in its path, I'd work on making it if I wasn't busy smashing everything as a tarkus atm[/QUOTE] It's literally a shoyruken, so boss.

[t]http://i.imgur.com/AYbj4.jpg[/t] he didn't like it

I tried a tarkus invasion, it was a lot more fun than I was expecting!

I hope you remembered the most important part of Tarkus invasions. [t]http://i.imgur.com/9tWrb.jpg[/t] [editline]13th November 2012[/editline] also fighting tarkus as tarkus is the best thing ever

what level are you

why are there no tarkus pictures in the op fix this

I'm updating the OP as I see fit. even though all the images are hilarious i don't want it to become a vg discussion, at least not right away. [editline]13th November 2012[/editline] this, however, should definitely be in the OP [img]http://i.imgur.com/zEsVp.jpg[/img] [editline]13th November 2012[/editline] also my tarkus is level 37 atm

Put OnlyAfro's video in the OP, fits with the title well. [url]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7aSCbCUqj64[/url]

[QUOTE=Zinayzen;38432219]I'm updating the OP as I see fit. even though all the images are hilarious i don't want it to become a vg discussion, at least not right away. [editline]13th November 2012[/editline] this, however, should definitely be in the OP [img]http://i.imgur.com/zEsVp.jpg[/img] [editline]13th November 2012[/editline] also my tarkus is level 37 atm[/QUOTE] should definitely be in the op

[img]http://i.imgur.com/RQU5p.png[/img]

i'd love to put it in the OP but i have to SOMEHOW make this game appealing to strangers and that probably won't do it [editline]13th November 2012[/editline] i should probably include my full image dump actually

[QUOTE=Zinayzen;38432272]i'd love to put it in the OP but i have to SOMEHOW make this game appealing to strangers and that probably won't do it [editline]13th November 2012[/editline] i should probably include my full image dump actually[/QUOTE] I guess you could put [url=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T3d94pxVRQU]this[/url] in the OP?

I'll make some changes to it later tonight, probably. I doubt many people even LOOK at the OP anymore, let's be honest, but I'll still make some adjustments. [editline]13th November 2012[/editline] man i love duke's

The Depths is the least fun level in the whole game. I'm so glad you can just skip all of it.

I beg to differ, have you been to Ash Lake?

I missed that place on my first playthrough. I've seen pictures and it at least looks like a nice area. Don't know how it is gameplay-wise though.

It's nice but it takes six hours to get there.

ring of fog and a +10 Pahris bow makes that trip 30 minutes.