The Painted. Crappy, Frustrating World of Ariamis

Yes, but you don't have to fight her. And there's a shortcut....

The painted world is actually one of my favourite areas. Loved the level design and the amount of loot on offer. I normally farm souls there as well.

Oh man painted world is my favorite area. At level 60 it can be a bit brutal and it might be hard to find summon signs at that level but it can be done. I was lost for days in painted and the worst part is you know you are stuck. It's the only area that forces you to move forward. If you want help ill be glad to assist like I said I love painted world. I freaking hate the great hollow though that place can burn to the ground.

First, check the Wiki for the best way to escape without having to fight the boss. As I recall, she leaves you alone unless you attack her. If you walk by her and jump off the plank, you can leave without fighting her. She's an irritating boss (invisible!), so if you're already irritated with this area, attacking the boss won't help your mood. Frankly, it was one of my least favorite boss battles.

A few more notes:

1. If you have any kind of AOE poison or similar attack, use that on the blobs with spears. If you don't, here are a few options: a) circle strafe the area, attacking the blobs as you turn their flank. They are really slow. b) get out your best shield and weapon and just wail on them. I wasn't a particularly tough fighter and I did OK, although I preferred the AOE. In my opinion, these guys aren't particularly tough, but they are annoying because there are a ton of them.

2. Try to kill the toxic blob heads from as far away as possible. If you get caught up in a toxic cloud, it's a whole lot of suck.

3. The pinwheel guys are pretty dramatic but silly. When they spin up on you, just sit there and laugh as they spin against you. When they stop, kill them fast. They should be easy for a warrior.

I know this is a favorite level for some, and I was therefore really looking forward to it. But I have to say ... I was a little disappointed. The enemies are obnoxious, particularly those blob heads. So I feel your pain.

Just go talk to the boss she is a reasonable lady.

LOL thank you for the info. I love the PW.



Edit: Are there lots of summon sign or invaders at SL 60?

When I was at 72, I had a terrible time finding someone to either summon or vice versa.

Granted, my keen math skills tell me that 72 does not equal 60, but FYI!

I hate PW. I avoid it whenever possible. I'm glad it's optional.

i love pw my third fave area in the game first and second beign the catacombs and tog. if youre sl 60 there should be tons of summon signs, also you will get invaded every minute, it's easy if you go there with a lot of blooming moss.

That explains it. You're completely insane! Loving ToG?

Don't listen to him . . . he's mental.

Tomb of the Giants is one of my favourite zones as well, Forest, Tomb of the Giants, and Catacombs in that order for me, with Ash lake coming in at fourth.

Just a heads up with the PW, it is sort of a common PvP spot. So just so you know, if you are human you will probably get invaded very quickly.

Whoah. Those are all the worlds I speed run through.

I have to admit though, PW looks awesome!

Never been there myself, though I heard it can be annoying for many reasons.

I might go check it out. I heard the PvP there is sexy.

Hello!

This is my third attempt at this post. I almost finished it twice and then somehow skipped to the main forum and couldn't retrieve what I had written. :x

Anyhow, thank-you to all the people who took the time to give me great tips and advice for the level, and to share their feelings about PW and other levels. I really appreciate it.

I do see the tremendous value of this level for soul farming and collecting valuable items. I killed the undead dragon very early on, so I could have made my way to the boss and left a long time ago, but I've stuck around to explore every nook and cranny, pick-up every item, and collect as many souls as I can. I've already been able to level up a couple times, and I plan to continue soul-farming here for a while so I can save all my collected soul items for buying stuff and forging weapons and armor.

The reason I hate this place so much is because the enemies are brutal, unpredictable, frustrating, and unrelenting. I've learned the poison mist trick for the spear-wielding hordes, which has been a life-saver. I had developed an effective melee strategy for dealing with them, but it was time-consuming, and some times I had to use some of my flasks. The poison mist makes it so easy But there has never been a level yet that has been so frustrating for me. Give me Anor Londo's sentinels and gargoyle's, or black knights wielding all manner of weapon any day, but these co-ordinated attacks by archers, along with undead swordsmen, and assault teams of infested undead wielding torches backed up by flame-spewing allies who lay down covering fire can some times make life very difficult.

I've developed good strategies for the enemies in this level, but for some reason, the Painted World has proven resistant to training. Every time I play it through it's different; my plan falls apart, unexpected enemies launch unexpected attacks, and I die often with 10,000 + souls only to be killed by a rat or an swarm of undead before I can get back to my bloodstain. Every step forward has required multiple deaths. Now I'm dealing with the bone-wheel skeletons, and that's added an extra dimension of difficulty to an already incredibly challenging level.

So I guess it's a love/hate thing between me and the Painted World of Ariamis. I won't leave it even though I can at any time (without fighting the boss as many have mentioned), but I've forced myself to stay and collect the last of the items and continue to amass souls for leveling up. In the mean time I die and die and die and die and die :roll:

Anyways, I wanted to know what you guys think about killing the boss of this world. Is she difficult? Is there any point? I'm still on the fence.

Thanks again for all your useful posts,

tokidd


BTW, I don't have X-Box Live. Ha! I can almost hear the collective groan of a thousand gamers reading this. So I don't have to worry about getting invaded. I've been meaning to get connected for months, for Forza, Hockey, and now Dark Souls, so maybe I'll look into it and get it hooked up.

Pricillas dagger is the only reason to kill her. Since you have to fight her solo the fight will be very hard due to her invisibility. My first run I fought her solo and after her cutting me to pieces about 5 times I got her on the plank you jump off of to leave. There she can't leave and you can just pound her.

What do you mean you have to fight her solo? I've fought her with a phantom several times.

The OP said he doesn't have live, so he has to play offline, meaning if he wants to fight her to get the Scythe or Dagger, he'd have to fight her solo.

Oh, that's what I missed then.

Dagger is fun, but not worth it, IMO.

Knights Honor achievements needs both her weapons right? That might be worth it to you. My guess is by now, half the forum could tell you my opinion on the value of fighting her.

Spoiler:

Call me crazy, but I think this guy ^^ likes the Lifehunt Scythe.

I go there for her dagger and my favorite whip.

Somehow a thorny whip on fire scares players

hey a mushi-shi avatar! and yeah the whip is cool, speaking of which Tokidd have you fought the Npc invader in ariamis yet? he uses pyro and is worth 30000 souls!