Alas, Dark Souls has beaten me (A plea for help)

I think I've finally got as far into the game as I can through practice and dodging+Blocking... I think I'm gonna have to invest into some more Vitality for the rest of it.

So, this is my last ditch plea for any advice people might have so that I can avoid stacking Vit...

Whether there's some better Rings I could be using, or better Armor, or even a better weapon/shield.

Current Build

I have the Lordvessel, I haven't killed any of the Lord's or drained New Londo, but I've been deep into the Tomb, opened the shortcut to Lost Izalith, and been imprisoned by Seath.

If it makes a difference to your suggestions, I use Sunlight Maggot for my Light inside of the Tomb.

I cannot go online, nor will I ever with this character.

If you're suggesting equipment I should use, please provide a reason why it's better than what I'm using, or why I should be using it instead. Also, how to obtain it if you don't think I'd already have it by this point.

Thanks!

Edit:

Also, I have to be able to at least 'Mid Roll'. Can't stand the Fat Roll~

You don't need to increase vitality, but are you firm in using the same set of equipment for the entire game?

I change armor depending on the area of the game. Painted Guardian armor+5 has great Magic Defense. Antique Dress set has great Curse Defense (at the lightest weight); the Blood-Stained Skirt+9 or +10 has two great defenses. Gold-Hemed Black set has great poison and fire defense.

If you go with lighter weight armor, you can swap the Havel's Ring for Poison, Magic, Fire, Lightning, (etc.) rings

My suggestion is if you're going into a area that has high " X " damage, check the available armor in your inventory and go with the highest defense against " X ", yet light enough in weight to allow you move easily.

As for a Shield. I like Stability over a specific defense. Upgrade/Modify the Eagle Shield. See how ya like it.

Not completely firm in it, no, but I don't like dropping physical defense if I can help it because of the low HP.

Is there any handy guide to which area is strong in which type of damage? Unless an enemy happens to be hurling around blatantly elemental attacks, I have no idea how to tell hehe.

Doesn't the Eagle Shield not have 100% physical reduction anymore? I farmed a Silver Knight since I thought it was the highest stability, 100% reduction non-Greatshield. Kinda hoping it doesn't, 'cause otherwise it means I'd have to go to the top of Blighttown, which I skipped with the Master Key haha.

Do you have a FAP ring? The one Lautrec drops. Switch Cloranthy for FAP. Everytime you have a chance to level up increase your Vit" at least go to 20 (gives 1000 HP with FAP I think). You have some Faith, increase it till you get to 30. You could use Great Heal, a buff, WoG and Great Magic Barrier. Giant armor has the best defense in the game. As for weapons I would get a Murakumo and start increasing Dex to 40.

Oh? Why the Murakumo?

And I do have a FAP, haven't used it 'cause of the whole "Break on unequip" thing. Means I'll never want to take it off, hehe

Because Murakumo is really strong at 40 dex and upgraded to 15+. And if you level up your faith and buff it it will become even stronger. Plus it has nice dead angling

Sandwiz wrote:Because Murakumo is really strong at 40 dex and upgraded to 15+. And if you level up your faith and buff it it will become even stronger. Plus it has nice dead angling

I'll consider it when I've got the Ember to let me +15 it. And a Slab, you need one for going from 14 to 15 don't you?

At the moment I can +10 it only, and my BKH is better stats at that stage~ Unless the stat scaling is a lot better than I think it is, of course...

Does Dead Angling have a PvE use at all?

I suggested the Mura because you already have 25 Dex and high Str, but other options are the Halberd, Claymore, any other weapon that has C/C, D/C scaling. Either way you'll want 40 Dex for max damage. And don't worry, once you have FAP you'll never want to take it off, the bonuses are too good.

With your build and never going online you should definitely be wearing the FAP ring imo especially if you do not want to put any points into Vit. And definitely go with the giants armour +5 its the best but i prefer the black iron.

Hrm... Guess I'll have to go looking for the Giants again. I've not managed to find it yet hehe.

Ah~ I'll check out a couple of the weapons with good scaling then, and see which moveset I prefer.

anymore i prefer to use standard upgrades and use the pine resins to buff, only wish the gold pine resin was purchasable

Put points into Vitality. Simple as that. You can't do anything with 500 HP and mid roll, you're way too slow. It's not even a question of gouging, it's par for the course for any build to put points into Vitality.

Zephryl wrote:Hrm... Guess I'll have to go looking for the Giants again. I've not managed to find it yet hehe.

Ah~ I'll check out a couple of the weapons with good scaling then, and see which moveset I prefer.

You can always look the wiki you know. Giant Blacksmith sells the armor.

Your Black Knight Halberd is actually a fantastic weapon for a first playthough. It's long, has safe attacks, and is powerful. I'd just stick with that.

Not got a bow? That'll make travelling around a lot easier, in your case a Dragonslayer Greatbow would be fantastic, but a longbow or pharis's bow would be just as good. I've gotten through a great deal of the game with sniping.

Also, with those stats you might want to start investing more in strength - I got through the Tomb of the Giants with my low Vit character mostly with a Gravelord sword and Havel's shield and gear. The MVP for me was my extremely high strength and dex, which meant I could use the thrusting attack after a successful block. Rolling is good and all, but with that level of endurance you can turtle with reasonable success.

So, in your case, try a greatshield and just take hits, following them up with a strong whack from your halberd. I'm assuming it's +5 right? If not, DO IT.


EDIT: Focusing on blocking also means you won't have to worry about rolling quite as much - so you may want to consider for some areas going for full heavy armour, taking off havel's ring to free up a slot, and just enjoy the high defence stats (especially with things like Steel Stoneplate).

go light armor and learn how to dodge. you can always get better at it. dont believe me? just youtube dark souls sl 1 playthough. tons of people show you how very simple the game is without having to invest a single point into any stat. just force yourself to do it and you will get better. wanna speed up the process? challeng yourself to do a no shield run. i gaurentee you will increase your rolling/dodging skills by immeasurable ammounts. just remember to go slow. even though the game can be beat in an hour its not smart to do if you dont know the game yet. every attack has tells and every enemy AI can be manipulated if you give yourself the time to watch and learn.

It does depend how much time you want to invest in it though. A SL1 playthrough is fairly badass and to be honest I was a lot happier doing my first playthrough with a tank than spending frustrating hours trying to perfect myself in what should be a game I want to enjoy. I learnt how to get through areas without resorting to risky strategies.

It's really up to the OP, and personally I feel that he just needs to persevere. A lot of nasty later areas are a lot easier once you learn them - Lower New Londo is startlingly easy when you learn it.

A no shield run, or a SL 1 run, would be good to do later... But as my first ever run would just kill the fun for me. Running the same area over and over so I know how to avoid enemies, which one react in seperate ways and how to avoid them... Yeeeeah...


Anyway, was confusing the Giant's Armor with the Stone Armor... Buying it from the Blacksmith is certainly easier. And I think I'll start to prepare one of the normal weapons that scales well, and swap over to it when I can +14/15 it, unless scaling makes it better at 10.

I'll consider purely tanking in some of the harder area's too. Tomb of Giants I don't do too much dodging in anyway...

to each his own. my first play through i didnt know jack about the game and i spent the whole time in smoughs armor once i unlocked it, it took me forever to beat the game. after watching a couple videos and trying some practice runs it became almost automatic. thats just what worked for me though. my second character was a little expiramental and by my third character the game could almost be beat while watching a movie and eating. but it is up to OP how he wants to do things. just dont quit. this game is definately a gem and is one of the only game i play any more, along with a few friends of mine the souls series is the only thing on the market right now that is worth playing.

Flankydizzle wrote:Have you upgraded the halberd? You can buy twinkling tits from giant blacksmith, once it's +5 you will destroy everything in PvE even the four kings.

I have~ Got it way back when I was in the Parish, upgraded it to 3 almost straight away and obsessively looked for those Lizards while I played hehe.

Damage output isn't my problem 'cause of that~ Getting killed before I can deal the damage is lol

Here's what I used through NG...and actually STILL use on NG++...

Head: Havel's Helm (Good Poise)
Chest: Elite Knight Armor +9 (I changed it out for Paladin Armor +5 when I got it)(Good Pose / Phy Def)
Hands: This is really up to you, I use Smough's Gauntlets, but you could Keep Guardian's, as long as it has good poise/phys def.
Legs: Crimson Waistcloth +5 (This is for resistances and really to keep a low weight).
Shield: Black Knight Shield +5 (This shield is excellent for everything pretty much unless you want to straight tank anything, in which case you should use Shield of Artorias from Sif's soul).
Weapon: Black Knight Sword +5 (You're fine with the halberd...sword is just my preference).

Why do you have the pyro flame with no pyros? Also, you can run pretty much anything in this game as long as you have enough Endurance, which you do. The rings are the same setup that I have, and I have no problems as they've carried me so far to NG++

Oh whoops! Forgot to put my Mancies in haha.

Using Chaos Firestorm and Fire Orb.

I'd use Power Within...with a +5 BKH...You. Will. Wreck. EVERYTHING


Edit: Unless you are using an upgraded glove...it makes the life drain more without affecting the damage output. make sure you use unupgraded glove for PW

alchemydesign wrote:I'd use Power Within...with a +5 BKH...You. Will. Wreck. EVERYTHING


Edit: Unless you are using an upgraded glove...it makes the life drain more without affecting the damage output. make sure you use unupgraded glove for PW

Not anymore with the patch.