[PVE] What stuff for an agile tank gameplay?

Hello,

I'm looking for advice to chose my stuff. It's my first game and I just finished the Blighttown level (I hate it).
I rolled a Pyromancer following the advice of the friend who told me about Dark Souls but I don't like magic so I'm a melee fighter.
I want to play an agile tank and I don't care about PVP.

At the moment, my stats are nearly at their default value except for endurance (35) and strength (16). I use a Winged spear +5 and, various shields (Crest/Spider/Eagle/Black Knight) and the whole Elite Knight set (with +6 or +7 pieces). I use the ring that give health when I kill something and the one to be more resistant when I'm low in health.

When I had troubles with Quelaag I removed all my armor (for speed bump) and only kept my Winged spear and my Black Knight shield to win easily. It was quite long since I only hit for 30 but I liked it (not being naked I mean, but quick).

I really do like the spear gameplay since it's defensive but I'm open for other kind of weapons I can equip along with a shield. I think the Elite Knight Armor is too heavy for me (as I don't have the ninja ring yet).

What stuff do you suggest?
Is my gameplay sustainable for NG+ ?
And what stats are good to upgrade to fit my gameplay?

Thanks!

I suggest putting your points into Vit, End, Str, and Dex. You've already got the End, so all you really need is some Vit, and whatever stats you need for your weapon of choice. Get havels ring, and the wood grain ring when you can, and switch things in and out to find a good balance so you can roll/flip. I'm the same as you. Never really liked magic, so I've always done tank builds. As much as people don't like it, havels ring plus the ninja ring are a very nice combo, and while make you quick without sacrificing defense.

As for weapons, use what you like. A very big factor (and very downplayed, in my opinion) in how powerful a weapon is, is how comfortable and experienced you are with its moveset. As far as spears, you might want to check out the Dragonslayer spear, or the silver knight spear. The partizan and pike both are decent to, and allow for more flexibility as far as upgrading.

Oh, and be sure to ascend your pyro flame. It's almost a necessity.

As far as NG+, you should be fine.
Like I said, all I ever play is tank builds, and I haven't had much trouble other than 4 kings.
Biggest thing is, don't worry about making mistakes.

Time and time again I bless the Havel's Armour set. It's made it possible for me to beat some of the big bosses single handed. The Four Kings were a walkover and I beat them at the first attempt. Bed of Chaos was a nightmare until I switched to Havel's which helped me stay on my feet. I equip it with Havel's Ring otherwise you won't be able to run, the Clorenthy Ring for quick stamina recovery, the Eagle Shield and the Gravelord Sword. My preferred long range death dealer is the Longbow and I switch the Clorenthy Ring for the Hawk Ring as and when I'm using it.

Romain T wrote:Hello,

I'm looking for advice to chose my stuff. It's my first game and I just finished the Blighttown level (I hate it).
I rolled a Pyromancer following the advice of the friend who told me about Dark Souls but I don't like magic so I'm a melee fighter.
I want to play an agile tank and I don't care about PVP.

At the moment, my stats are nearly at their default value except for endurance (35) and strength (16). I use a Winged spear +5 and, various shields (Crest/Spider/Eagle/Black Knight) and the whole Elite Knight set (with +6 or +7 pieces). I use the ring that give health when I kill something and the one to be more resistant when I'm low in health.

When I had troubles with Quelaag I removed all my armor (for speed bump) and only kept my Winged spear and my Black Knight shield to win easily. It was quite long since I only hit for 30 but I liked it (not being naked I mean, but quick).

I really do like the spear gameplay since it's defensive but I'm open for other kind of weapons I can equip along with a shield. I think the Elite Knight Armor is too heavy for me (as I don't have the ninja ring yet).

What stuff do you suggest?
Is my gameplay sustainable for NG+ ?
And what stats are good to upgrade to fit my gameplay?

Thanks!

If you dont care about PVP, you might also consider boosting a high base damage to Fire +10 or Lightning +10, so you can pump even more into Vitality. I would recommend pumping End to 40 for the stamina cap, Vit at least 50, STR enough for using said weapon and the rest on base (or a lil' DEX if you need it to equip something).
In case you're using a scaling weapon, pump STR to 40 or even 50 depending on the scaling grade. As for equipment, if you wanna be cheesy, upgrade full Black Iron Set and equip Havel's Ring. Gives a lot of poise and it's better in every way when compared to Havel's: less weight, greater defense. Just skip the shield - for that one I would recommend the Black Knight Shield. 100% physical damage reduction and a whooping 95% fire dmg reduction.

Thanks for you answers!

Specter737 wrote:
I suggest putting your points into Vit, End, Str, and Dex. You've already got the End, so all you really need is some Vit, and whatever stats you need for your weapon of choice. Get havels ring, and the wood grain ring when you can, and switch things in and out to find a good balance so you can roll/flip. I'm the same as you. Never really liked magic, so I've always done tank builds. As much as people don't like it, havels ring plus the ninja ring are a very nice combo, and while make you quick without sacrificing defense.

Do I really need vitality with a dodge/block gameplay? For now I'm quite disappointed by my damages output: it seems that my Winged spear +5 is a Rubber spear -15! I don't know how to fix that (and I can't even use the Lightning spear since the ****ing Mimic fell with it…). Any better weapon are far from my progression (Sen's fortress)… :/

SlakeMoth wrote:
Time and time again I bless the Havel's Armour set. It's made it possible for me to beat some of the big bosses single handed. The Four Kings were a walkover and I beat them at the first attempt. Bed of Chaos was a nightmare until I switched to Havel's which helped me stay on my feet. I equip it with Havel's Ring otherwise you won't be able to run, the Clorenthy Ring for quick stamina recovery, the Eagle Shield and the Gravelord Sword. My preferred long range death dealer is the Longbow and I switch the Clorenthy Ring for the Hawk Ring as and when I'm using it.

The problem for now is that I can't access the Havel's Armor set nor Black Iron set for now. When I get it, I will run for the ninja ring. Even if the Black Iron one is better (what about the stamina penalty?), it doesn't look good so I'll see which one to use (since I care about that).

I got Havel's ring which allow me to be very quick by replacing my Elite Knight Chest for a Shadow Garb. It's fun. I can't wait to combine the two rings with a big armor.

Thanks and don't hesitate if you have advices about the weapon I should get reminding I'm in Sen's fortress for my first game and the Lightning spear is lost.

DarkRoot garden, get the Stone set, 2nd best set for tanking IMHO.

If you are using the winged spear, I would get it all the way to +14 (not 15 because by this time you will have better things to use a slab on unless you just want the trophy) and either use resins on it, or magic weapon (low int requirement for this) to add damage.

Romain T wrote:Thanks for you answers!

Specter737 wrote:
I suggest putting your points into Vit, End, Str, and Dex. You've already got the End, so all you really need is some Vit, and whatever stats you need for your weapon of choice. Get havels ring, and the wood grain ring when you can, and switch things in and out to find a good balance so you can roll/flip. I'm the same as you. Never really liked magic, so I've always done tank builds. As much as people don't like it, havels ring plus the ninja ring are a very nice combo, and while make you quick without sacrificing defense.

Do I really need vitality with a dodge/block gameplay? For now I'm quite disappointed by my damages output: it seems that my Winged spear +5 is a Rubber spear -15! I don't know how to fix that (and I can't even use the Lightning spear since the ****ing Mimic fell with it…). Any better weapon are far from my progression (Sen's fortress)… :/

SlakeMoth wrote:
Time and time again I bless the Havel's Armour set. It's made it possible for me to beat some of the big bosses single handed. The Four Kings were a walkover and I beat them at the first attempt. Bed of Chaos was a nightmare until I switched to Havel's which helped me stay on my feet. I equip it with Havel's Ring otherwise you won't be able to run, the Clorenthy Ring for quick stamina recovery, the Eagle Shield and the Gravelord Sword. My preferred long range death dealer is the Longbow and I switch the Clorenthy Ring for the Hawk Ring as and when I'm using it.

The problem for now is that I can't access the Havel's Armor set nor Black Iron set for now. When I get it, I will run for the ninja ring. Even if the Black Iron one is better (what about the stamina penalty?), it doesn't look good so I'll see which one to use (since I care about that).

I got Havel's ring which allow me to be very quick by replacing my Elite Knight Chest for a Shadow Garb. It's fun. I can't wait to combine the two rings with a big armor.

Thanks and don't hesitate if you have advices about the weapon I should get reminding I'm in Sen's fortress for my first game and the Lightning spear is lost.

Alright, here's a couple tips then:
Go to the Parish, right in the corridor near the bonfire, a lil' before where fought the Boar, there's a staircase. Go up there and you'll see a Black Knight. Do whatever you can to slay him (aka backstab/pyromancies) and he'll drop you a Black Knight Great Sword. You'll struggle a bit with it, but it's a really good weapon for PvE on NG and does tons of damage when two-handed. Make sure you spend any Twinkling Titanite you can on upgrading it, you should have some to spare.
If you dont like big-*** swords, my advice is to upgrade a claymore up to +10 (you'll need the very large ember from New Londo if you want to upgrade it to +15) and buff it with resins. Make sure you kill the Iron Golem as soon as possible (the claymore with resin does the trick too) and then get to Anor Londo. From there, just go to the Giant Blacksmith (there are tons of videos on how to do it pretty quick and out of harm's way on YouTube) and upgrade your equip. Get some lightning weapon as your mid-game choice and from now on it should be easier for you to get a better scaling weapon.
By the way, you dont need to equip a light armor in order to roll quickly if you're using Havel's Ring, unless you're on less than 40 END, which you probably is. Just keep that in mind for your end game gear.

Blazefury wrote:
Alright, here's a couple tips then:
Go to the Parish, right in the corridor near the bonfire, a lil' before where fought the Boar, there's a staircase. Go up there and you'll see a Black Knight. Do whatever you can to slay him (aka backstab/pyromancies) and he'll drop you a Black Knight Great Sword. You'll struggle a bit with it, but it's a really good weapon for PvE on NG and does tons of damage when two-handed. Make sure you spend any Twinkling Titanite you can on upgrading it, you should have some to spare.
If you dont like big-*** swords, my advice is to upgrade a claymore up to +10 (you'll need the very large ember from New Londo if you want to upgrade it to +15) and buff it with resins. Make sure you kill the Iron Golem as soon as possible (the claymore with resin does the trick too) and then get to Anor Londo. From there, just go to the Giant Blacksmith (there are tons of videos on how to do it pretty quick and out of harm's way on YouTube) and upgrade your equip. Get some lightning weapon as your mid-game choice and from now on it should be easier for you to get a better scaling weapon.
By the way, you dont need to equip a light armor in order to roll quickly if you're using Havel's Ring, unless you're on less than 40 END, which you probably is. Just keep that in mind for your end game gear.

Unfortunately, I killed few dark knights (Undead Burg, Undead Paris, Undead Asylum and Darkroot Bassin) and I only got the shield (better than nothing, it helped me a lot to slay Quelaag.

I must say that a Lightning Claymore is tempting, so bad I can't find a video of the animation!
I would be glad to try it, even if a Lightning Winged Spear would be priceless (coward weapon inside).

Romain T wrote:

Blazefury wrote:
Alright, here's a couple tips then:
Go to the Parish, right in the corridor near the bonfire, a lil' before where fought the Boar, there's a staircase. Go up there and you'll see a Black Knight. Do whatever you can to slay him (aka backstab/pyromancies) and he'll drop you a Black Knight Great Sword. You'll struggle a bit with it, but it's a really good weapon for PvE on NG and does tons of damage when two-handed. Make sure you spend any Twinkling Titanite you can on upgrading it, you should have some to spare.
If you dont like big-*** swords, my advice is to upgrade a claymore up to +10 (you'll need the very large ember from New Londo if you want to upgrade it to +15) and buff it with resins. Make sure you kill the Iron Golem as soon as possible (the claymore with resin does the trick too) and then get to Anor Londo. From there, just go to the Giant Blacksmith (there are tons of videos on how to do it pretty quick and out of harm's way on YouTube) and upgrade your equip. Get some lightning weapon as your mid-game choice and from now on it should be easier for you to get a better scaling weapon.
By the way, you dont need to equip a light armor in order to roll quickly if you're using Havel's Ring, unless you're on less than 40 END, which you probably is. Just keep that in mind for your end game gear.

Unfortunately, I killed few dark knights (Undead Burg, Undead Paris, Undead Asylum and Darkroot Bassin) and I only got the shield (better than nothing, it helped me a lot to slay Quelaag.

I must say that a Lightning Claymore is tempting, so bad I can't find a video of the animation!
I would be glad to try it, even if a Lightning Winged Spear would be priceless (coward weapon inside).

If you use the Claymore one-handed it's a large horizontal swipe in the air with R1. R2 is a thrusting attack. Here's a Fire one in action, the move set is the same: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RQg9v_MLtpA

Sexy burning effect ! Ornstrein's armor design is awesome… :o

By the way, I'm 40 END. I will put my next points in VIT to approach 40.
As I want to use Fire/Lightning weapon, my STR and my DEX are pointless, isn't it ?

If you want to use elemental, yes, you just need STR and DEX to wear the equipment, as the weapon itself doesnt scale with anything. If you dropped some 30 odd points in STR, just upgrade a heavy weapon into elemental, like Demon Great Machete. It needs 40 STR (one-handed).

Make sure you get your winged spear to +10 with the ember you get in the depths behind the butcher.

If you want to have some mobility and take a few hits on the chin you'll need to either snag the flipping chihuahua ring from Shiva and his Gimp or go give his Holowness, the Bishop Havel a good drubbing for his ring. Then you can do the sub 50% boogy while wearing medium armor.

I personally still like the Elite Knight chest at +10 for a good all-weather piece of armor even in NG+. I think that's partly because I feel that looking sharp helps kill bad guys...still working over the math on that.

Herbo wrote:
If you want to have some mobility and take a few hits on the chin you'll need to either snag the flipping chihuahua ring from Shiva and his Gimp or go give his Holowness, the Bishop Havel a good drubbing for his ring. Then you can do the sub 50% boogy while wearing medium armor.

I already have the ring of Havel and I'm waiting to have the level to join the Hunter covenant.
At the moment I get killed when I run into the forest… -.-

Herbo wrote:
I personally still like the Elite Knight chest at +10 for a good all-weather piece of armor even in NG+. I think that's partly because I feel that looking sharp helps kill bad guys...still working over the math on that.

+1 ! Good look = Huge damage. Scientifically proven.

Yarxov wrote:
Make sure you get your winged spear to +10 with the ember you get in the depths behind the butcher.

Yep I will. Then I will light it!

I defeated the Iron Golem and I'm now in Minas Tirith Anor Londo. By the way, is there any shortcut between the Undead Parish and Anor Londo ?

Other question: I love the look of Qyekkag's Furysword but I don't know if it's a good idea to get it since I never accumulate Humanity (I often die).

Nab the cage key from the walkway near the base of the tower that the Crestfallen Merchant is in in Sen's Fortress. Then use it on the cages in the central roof tower to get an elevator down to the first blade walkway. Until you get the lord vessel that's the shortest route. Undead Parish > Sen's Cage Ride > Demon Rape Glow Ring

Romain T wrote:Other question: I love the look of Qyekkag's Furysword but I don't know if it's a good idea to get it since I never accumulate Humanity (I often die).

As long as you're good about recovering your sad lonely little blood spatters the ***** queen's foreleg is awesome. And you only need 10 humanity to juice it up to full photon torpedo power. In your first play through it'll pretty reliably do more damage than some great-weapons (one handed)and it's lickety split fast. It hold its own into NG+ and scales well with Dex up through about 40 or so.

My only complaint with QFS is that you don't get a kick, and the super back-cartwheel may look cool, but sometimes you just need to break someone's guard and nothing satisfies like a boot to the crotch.

@Romain T,

Man, just get rid of some weight, run into the forest and stay close to your left (aka the cliff). Eventually, you'll get into a building and then just talk to the cat. You can do it without getting hit and enemies quit being hostile on you as soon as you interact with Alvina, no need to grind in order to kill the forest folks.

Herbo wrote:
Nab the cage key from the walkway near the base of the tower that the Crestfallen Merchant is in in Sen's Fortress. Then use it on the cages in the central roof tower to get an elevator down to the first blade walkway. Until you get the lord vessel that's the shortest route. Undead Parish > Sen's Cage Ride > Demon Rape Glow Ring

Ok, it's what I did. Not so bad after all.

Herbo wrote:
As long as you're good about recovering your sad lonely little blood spatters the ***** queen's foreleg is awesome. And you only need 10 humanity to juice it up to full photon torpedo power. In your first play through it'll pretty reliably do more damage than some great-weapons (one handed)and it's lickety split fast. It hold its own into NG+ and scales well with Dex up through about 40 or so.

Rha… I don't know… I really never stacked more than 3 humanity by killing monsters… I doubt to change that.

Blazefury wrote:
@Romain T,

Man, just get rid of some weight, run into the forest and stay close to your left (aka the cliff). Eventually, you'll get into a building and then just talk to the cat. You can do it without getting hit and enemies quit being hostile on you as soon as you interact with Alvina, no need to grind in order to kill the forest folks.

I'll try that! Thanks.

Well, for now I'm in Anor Londo, I'll upgrade my Winged Spear to a Lightning Winged Spear +2. I'm tired to hit for 30 with my Winged Spear +5. :p