Level-Schmevel....I'm through not leveling!

I have been very good at trying to keep a level close to the average for each area according to this Wiki guide lines. But I'm tired of getting crushed by every invader I meet. I have died by every electrified weapon in the game. I think I was killed by an electric toothbrush by the last invader. My weapons on the other hand only do extra damage based on my stats. Right now that damage is not enough for the armor I'm faced with. Ergo my stats must go up and that means my level needs to go up.

I'm in the Depths at level 25. I'm not having much problems with the in game enemies. The invaders on the other hand are killing me.... literally. I'm thinking level 50 or 60.

Unfortunately I dont think the problem is your level. The invaders early game are often using the BB glitch to get weapons they could not possibly have that early. Pesevere, ask the forum to help you with phantoms and eventually youll get to the point where these guys either no longer invade or you can actually face them. You can also play hollow, its a bit more difficult but eventually you get used to it.

Level really has little to do with the early game you won't find yourself overpowering those lightening weapons until you are around 40 or 50 in the stat you scale it off of.

Since you are only in the depths, I want to tell you ride it out! there are a ton of cheaters who use a glitch to get the weapons and armour they use in low level areas, but they becomes less frequent later in game. I know its hard to slug through them but there isn't much you can do. By the time you are a high enough level to deal with them they won't be able to invade you anymore. So just try to enjoy the game, the online pvp gets better... there are just a few people ruining it in the start.

You have two options

1. Play offline
2. Have a summon with you at all times.

Good luck!

Thanks for the advice. I don't want to play offline, because I want to meet up with Kirk. He might be a relative and give me a +20 flaming/electrified vorpal blade. I also don't want to summon a helper until I've had a little time to explore the new area. I want to know what the area is like and what to expect so I can be of help to my helper and not a hinderance.

Kirk can invade you while you're offline, you still have to be human though.

Kirk will still invade even if you are offline. But i understand what you are saying. Do whatever you want!

Aaaand. Was that a Jaberwocky reference? If so, then awesome!

As railage said kirk can invade offline. The same way there are offline summons there are also offline invasions, so people playing offline dont miss out on the experience. If you're worred about being a hinderance generally reading the wiki page on the area can familiarise you with it well enough.

So... I can play offline as human. Check out the area and still get invaded by Kirk. Then when I'm ready, go back online and pickup a helper to dodge the invaders on the way to the Gaping Dragon. I like it!!!!

Yes a Jaberwocky reference as well as a Dungeon & Dragons reference.

Two for the price of one!

Reality is leveling up might actually make things worse for you. Since Darkwraiths invade any level up, increasing your level would only open you up to more potential invaders.

At the same time, leveling up will not increase your chances of beating them.

Good news is: seems the vast majority of people only invade in the first areas of the game. Once you're past the Burg, Parish, and Depths, your number of invasions will probably decrease drastically (this is very, very unfortunate good news, and makes me pretty ashamed of the majority of the Dark Souls online players, I have to admit). I think I'm literally the last person who invades in Sen's--everyone invades before that, now. Every time I help someone through Sen's, I never get invaded.

So if you want to get invaded less, you should actually keep your level as low as possible, and you'll have to slug it out until you're passed the beginning areas of the game.

yep, keep it as low as possible and lucky for you most of them if notall go away after the depths, im kinda sad that my sl 4 hunter didnt get any invasions in the burg, i wanted some practice for this sat's event but i guess it's a good thing, i guess they had to get bored eventually(twinks i mean).

Blaine sens is an invader hot spot

^Yeah, it's me invading non-stop--I invade all the people!

Seriously though, every time I help someone through, we never get invaded. I usually just sit in Sen's and invade back-to-back for hours, and once in a while during that time I'll help a pour soul through. Often it'll be someone I killed first, then I offer to help them. Maybe it's my level? I'm SL30 in there. I wouldn't think invaders would be higher than that, though...

Proceed to unleash a can of whoop *** on them and pull off the most amazing underdog victory in the history of Dark Souls.

BLA1NE wrote:^Yeah, it's me invading non-stop--I invade all the people!

Seriously though, every time I help someone through, we never get invaded. I usually just sit in Sen's and invade back-to-back for hours, and once in a while during that time I'll help a pour soul through. Often it'll be someone I killed first, then I offer to help them. Maybe it's my level? I'm SL30 in there. I wouldn't think invaders would be higher than that, though...

Finally an invader without the pretense of being a nice guy. Killing poor li'l fellers trying to make it through Sen's for hours on end. I salute your honesty, and hope to one day have the opportunity to kill you for hours on end!

This may seem a naive question but what's the purpose of staying low level? Is it some kind of 'badge of honour' thing? I know that for PvP certain levels are favoured because you get invaded more often, so more opportunities to show off your skills but what do you use souls for? Sure, you can level up weapons, armour and buy stuff like arrows, weapon buffs etc. but what is the point of levelling up a weapon if you haven't got the strenght/dex to use it and in order to get the stats you have to level up, no?

I must be missing something here but I'm sure someone will enlighten me.

Because of the way summoning works you can only get sumons of people around your level. So if you're too high a level you get no summons. You also get invaded less at low level due to how the invasion limits work.

DoughGuy wrote:Because of the way summoning works you can only get sumons of people around your level. So if you're too high a level you get no summons. You also get invaded less at low level due to how the invasion limits work.

Thanks for that. I know that for a lot of players PvP is the most important part but what's the point of being summoned for a fight or co-op if you haven't got the stats to use a decent weapon? Still doesn't make any sense to me.

When upgraded every weapon is a decent weapon, some of the lowest stat weapons are amazing really, the rapier is a prime example of this.

To go through the game using only your starting weapons is not that hard.

I've actually started a Bow only playthrough haha, already past the Iron Golem.

Haha nice. My cleric has only used his mace (now divine) and his morningstar (now +8) and Ive killed the stray demon and am nearly up to the iron demon. Ive also already got reah back. Note: Do not take the drop down shortcut through the catacombs and use the bonfire at the tomb without the lordvessel. Its absolutely horrid to get back up. You dont have the brudges turned so you have to find alternate routes.

I actually do that all the time when I make gravelords haha. Then again, I love the Catacombs almost as much as I love the forest, so it's like a walk in the park for me.

Ok, back on topic for the OP. This is what I do for my early runs.

1st time through a level I play the entire level hollowed to get all the items I want and make my way to the boss door.

After that I put my sign down by either the boss gate or bonfire to help out the boss and gain some souls/humanity.

After I've done that for a while, upgraded my gear w/ the souls, bought items, etc... I'll reverse hollowing and summon some people to help.

At this point I'll go after the NPC invaders. After taking out the NPC invaders I head to the boss and finish the level. Once done w/ the level I'll either move on or help co-op some more.

I used this strategy for the Parish, Depths, and Blighttown at which point I was SL 40ish to take on Sens and didn't really see too many griefers after. For the burg and lower burg I just played hollowed since you rarely see summon signs and the bosses don't really require help.