From Software The Dark Souls II Megathread™

[CthuluIsSpy]

So I beat blue smelter demon. Solo.
Didn't take as many tries as I thought. Not that I'm saying that he needs to be harder mind you; he does deal a lot of damage with autotracking bullshit. Not to mention that the trip to him is a massive pain in the ass. I don't mesure how good a boss is by the amount of time I wasted on him.
I only managed to get to him because I was running a light build that prioritizes magic defense. No idea how a heavy build would get to him without murdering everything in the way, as you have hexes slowing you down and fuckers constantly attacking you.

The gauntlet is pretty easy to run through though? I don't know why people make such a big deal out of it. Even with a high % equip load, you have to only roll like 2 and 3 times, and have a time to heal when you drop down, if you fuck up. Personally, the road to Alonne was a bigger pain in the ass.

The hallway of death with the fireballs, or the long way? I had to take the long way, because whenever I tried the hallway of death I got slaughtered by those grunts coming out after I got stunned by a fireball. There's probably a really easy way of doing it, but I don't know what that is.
The long way really isn't that hard if you have a light build, as the hexes don't stop you too much. It's heavy builds that have me perplexed, as you'd think the hexes would really hurt then.

As odd as it may sound though, I prefer Iron Passage to the Caves of the dead from a design standpoint. In the caves it just felt like they threw down a bunch of shit everywhere just to constantly stunlock you with projectiles.
The passage at least felt like they carefully thought of ways to dick with you other than "hur durr, projectile spam everywhere at all times"

 

[Urbanolo]

The hallway of death with the fireballs, or the long way? I had to take the long way, because whenever I tried the hallway of death I got slaughtered by those grunts coming out after I got stunned by a fireball. There's probably a really easy way of doing it, but I don't know what that is.
The long way really isn't that hard if you have a light build, as the hexes don't stop you too much. It's heavy builds that have me perplexed, as you'd think the hexes would really hurt then.

As odd as it may sound though, I prefer Iron Passage to the Caves of the dead from a design standpoint. In the caves it just felt like they threw down a bunch of shit everywhere just to constantly stunlock you with projectiles.
The passage at least felt like they carefully thought of ways to dick with you other than "hur durr, projectile spam everywhere at all times"

I meant the long way, I've never bothered going through the 'shortcut'. I think we can all agree though that even though Cave of the Dead and Iron Passage can be annoying, Frigid Outskirts are a real bitch and coincidentally the only area I have never bothered to go through in my ~300h of playing DS 2.

 

[CthuluIsSpy]

Oh yeah, Frigid Outskirts is a fuck. All it is a wide open path where you can't see shit and occassionally get ambushed by rudolf the murder reindeer.
Its like the opposite of the cave of the dead, where there's too much stuff; in outskirts there's nothing except surprise deer rape.

 

[Arnust]

The hallway of death with the fireballs, or the long way? I had to take the long way, because whenever I tried the hallway of death I got slaughtered by those grunts coming out after I got stunned by a fireball. There's probably a really easy way of doing it, but I don't know what that is.

It's actually just doing it on coop. I actually think that, as an exception in the series, the Phantoms can interact with the contraption, so if you were prepared or had the limit of Phantoms with you, you can get through it pretty well, especially if the phantosm are also fighting through the normal way. It's pretty cool, like some kind of raid.

The Cave of the Dead is pretty unoffensive IMO, it's two drops and running in the right direction for a few seconds and you're at the boss. That's something I've never got why people got their panties on a twist about; the projectile statues. The bolts are low so you cna run through them untouched, and the ones that would hit you because of positioning, you can roll or block. You can also get hit with about 3-5 projectiles before the last hit proccing the status, iirc. And the +resist ring works well, especially the +3 versions that they hand out in the DLCs. And even accounting that you always get hit, the bolts can hit and even damage enemies, or at least stun them.

Frigid Outskirts is more inexcusable mainly because of the Thunder Ponies being ripped of the depths of hell, they and their hurtboxes, and I don't exactly rush there either, but once you get the ropes, going in the most optimal direction (which means basically going over the hill in the center of the valley) will make you encounter 3 Ponies at worst and takes surprisingly little time. Summoning NPCs as cannon fodder doesn't hurt either.

 

[CthuluIsSpy]

The hallway of death with the fireballs, or the long way? I had to take the long way, because whenever I tried the hallway of death I got slaughtered by those grunts coming out after I got stunned by a fireball. There's probably a really easy way of doing it, but I don't know what that is.

It's actually just doing it on coop. I actually think that, as an exception in the series, the Phantoms can interact with the contraption, so if you were prepared or had the limit of Phantoms with you, you can get through it pretty well, especially if the phantosm are also fighting through the normal way. It's pretty cool, like some kind of raid.

Huh, that actually makes a lot of sense. The host can wait outside the gate and the phantom can open it. The question is though, what about the second gate? Or is the answer just "bring two phantoms?"
Doing it solo is annoying, but at least there's an alternate path.

The Cave of the Dead is pretty unoffensive IMO, it's two drops and running in the right direction for a few seconds and you're at the boss. That's something I've never got why people got their panties on a twist about; the projectile statues. The bolts are low so you cna run through them untouched, and the ones that would hit you because of positioning, you can roll or block. You can also get hit with about 3-5 projectiles before the last hit proccing the status, iirc. And the +resist ring works well, especially the +3 versions that they hand out in the DLCs. And even accounting that you always get hit, the bolts can hit and even damage enemies, or at least stun them.

The statues aren't dangerous themselves, because with a petrify resist ring it actually takes a while for the instant death to proc. It is however extremely annoying for shit to constantly fly at you, even if it doesn't hit. And when it does hit it tends to stagger. Which again isn't inherently dangerous (unless you're unlucky and one of the grunts catch up to you), but pretty annoying.
I always found spam to be weak design. One of the problems with Lost Izalith and Demon Ruins, really. "Oh, fuck it I can't be bothered to do my job. I'll just drop Cabra demons and dragon butts everywhere and have them stand around"

Frigid Outskirts is more inexcusable mainly because of the Thunder Ponies being ripped of the depths of hell, they and their hurtboxes, and I don't exactly rush there either, but once you get the ropes, going in the most optimal direction (which means basically going over the hill in the center of the valley) will make you encounter 3 Ponies at worst and takes surprisingly little time. Summoning NPCs as cannon fodder doesn't hurt either.

Yeah, it gets easier with the NPCs and if you know where you are going. Still not a good design though. The key is a pain in the ass to get as well, as you have to back track a fairly long way with a bunch of enemies in the way.
Then again, it might just be because its part of the Ivory King DLC, and the only thing I like about that is the Burnt Ivory King and the Curved Nil Sword, which is a pretty interesting weapon conceptually.

 

[Arnust]

Huh, that actually makes a lot of sense. The host can wait outside the gate and the phantom can open it. The question is though, what about the second gate? Or is the answer just "bring two phantoms?"
Doing it solo is annoying, but at least there's an alternate path.

You can use two phantoms, but you can try and solo the second gate if you can time just right the dodges of the fireballs, which is pretty damn hard. Never done it myself, soloing both the gates in succession with success.

On the other two things, that spam ain't that bad when you can face it at your own pace IMO. Then again I almost sucide run the Cave of the Dead two or three times to loot it fully and then run straight for the boss. I don't feel like one has to treat it like a normal area, as for spending the least time there possible.

Awww, Ivory King's got more highlights. Like the Priestess Eye playing into the base game as well and some hilarious troll invaders. Or how it's at about Anor Londo level of showing a huge-ass city and making you feel like you actually traverse it without ever actually doing that. Kind of the opposite to what The Ringed City does.

Oh, and being able to separate the snow and ice setting of the damn Painted World. Quite the feat there.

 

[CthuluIsSpy]

I found Ivory King to be very linear with a series of narrow passages that force you to go in a certain direction. Shulva and Brume tower had some nice short cuts and it gave you the sense of freedom. Ivory king lacked that sense, as you find yourself going through the same lengthy path multiple times. Having to run from the first bonfire all the way to the elevator to the hedgehog area takes a while. Considering how many times one will die on his first trip through that place, that's a lot of running.
Maldron was a cheap little shit with too much health, the ability to heal, the fact that he runs away constantly and you can't even seed him to death. You can nail him with a loyd talisman at least, which helps, but its still a big game of tag.
The enemies are pretty cheap as well. You have spear fuckers with a long ranged stab that that takes half your health, the basic grunts have fast, heavily damaging combos and don't even get me started on Sonic the crack hedgehog. The DLC also has a nasty habit of pulling multiple enemies to you even if you make sure that only one can sees you.
Also, just to nitpick (again), farming the charred knights don't seem to work with CoC. Which means that in order to get 50 loyce souls you either have be very lucky or have to postone killing the boss until you get those souls. Which is not something I agree with.

Visually it's impressive, I'll give it that. Actually playing through it felt like a chore. There are some good ideas there (like the fact there are 2 states of the area, frozen and thawed, the invisibility gimmick, finding the soldiers to make the boss fight easier, Old Chaos which is a really impressive arena), but its undermined by confining you to a series of corridors and having to deal with annoying enemies.
Amusing enough the Frozen Wastes is the opposite; in Eleum Loyce you spend most of your time walking forward in a narrow path, whereas in the Frozen Wastes you wander aimlessly in a wide open field. Still annoying enemies though.

 

[Stonewolf]

Please ignore reddit memes such as 'Meta level'.
And don't worry too much about soul memory either, since I can still consistently invade/get invaded at 8-10 million SM range.

And do not pvp on the reddit bridge.
Just invade the maps you like or the ones that have an orange border in the bonfire warp screen.

And constantly fight only against PVE casuals that have no clue what theyre doing? Meta lvl is there so PVPers have easier time finding each other, so you get to play against actual people from time to time.

 

[Multidirectional]

Meta lvl is there so PVPers have easier time finding each other

I'm gonna need explanation for this statement.

 

[praetor]

Meta lvl is there so PVPers have easier time finding each other

I'm gonna need explanation for this statement.

let me try: the "official" Meta Lvl range (for the arena, SM range for the bridge) exists so that people who just want to duel can more easily match with each other and get consistent multiplayer sessions.

which is partly true. it's also an arbitrary "soft level cap" so you're "forced" to make an actual build instead of just maxing everything. as a side-note: the lvl meta (150) was decided early in the game cycle, before stats and mechanics were understood properly and before anybody had any time to analyse the spread, and it was decided by the dumb popular streamers without an ounce of thought put into it beyond "now there's more useful stats, so let's put the lvl meta at the next nice, "rounded" number after the old 120-125". which was fucking retarded, but this is the Souls community so it stuck...

 

[Arnust]

Fucking brilliant

 

[Deflowerer]

Didn't do DLCs though, noob :D

 

[CthuluIsSpy]

Didn't do DLCs though, noob :D

Tbf, Frigid Outskirts is pretty bullshit.
I actually gave up on it, because I just wanted to go to NG+ and I didn't look forward to running for 2 minutes in a snowstorm just to get fucked over when the second cat shows up.
I mean, one of them regens health at some point. Fuck off From, you assholes. That's not clever, that's being a dick. Like that DM who decides to kill everyone in the party with rocks because fuck you that's why.

 

[Arnust]

The rules are getting to the end. Which is hard enough; it's not like the "no hit boss" videos that come out three minutes after the games' release, this is not even getting poisoned or having a bad fall. That's why he's the world fist, and these things are so rare.

 

[CthuluIsSpy]

Yeah, you'd have to be playing the game for a very long time in order to do something like this, as well as show a certain amount of dedication.
A scrub like me just wouldn't have the patience.

 

[Arnust]

Is it worth it to go over 105 Agility? From what I've read here: http://darksouls2.wiki.fextralife.com/Agility, the next point where my iFrames improve is at 111 and I need to go from 32 Adaptability to 48 for that. On paper, it doesn't look like 0.334 extra seconds of iFrames are worth 12 16 levels which I think would go better into more Endurance since stamina doesn't seem to cap at 40 in this one

Mind you, on this char, I don't intend to use shields only dodging so I can 2hand/power stance my weapons.

Nah, honestly I think you're better off going over the Endurance softcap to get more use of your existing rolls. It's a shitton of levels for minimal return.

 

[CthuluIsSpy]

Nah, 105 is fine. You can easily avoid most of Fume Knight's attack that way, as long as you have less than 70% weight.
You even get a ring that increases your agility.
Endurance is still an amazing stat. 20 isn't enough, especially if you are using heavy weapons.

 

[Multidirectional]

Lower weight is more useful than higher armor stats. Longer roll distance and faster stamina regeneration means you will be avoiding a lot more hits entirely. I try to keep it under 40%, closer to 30% even.

 

[Hyperion]

Power Stance the Zweihander with another Greatsword. UGS damage with GS swing speed. Plus, you look like an absolute fucking badass lugging around a monstrosity on each shoulder.

Win-Win-Win.

 

[CthuluIsSpy]

Funnily enough, I solo'd the Smelter Demon on NG+. On my first try.
Stacking fire resist helps. No idea how to do it on NG though, lol.

 

[CthuluIsSpy]

I think he means the Greatsword.

Claymore is a good greatsword. Its basically a better bastard sword.

Defender is ok. Its actually fairly weak for its weight, but that's just to compensate for the built in lightning buff, which does increase its damage output considerably. And unlike SLB it can be used multiple times. It drains durability quickly though, so I wouldn't use it for prolonged combat. Nice for killing NG+ bosses, not sure about anything higher than that.

Wasn't a fan of royal. Seemed to be rather weak, and bleed isn't great on GS because of their slow speed, imo.

Thorned is pretty fun. As long as a claymore and comes with lightning. I like it more than the defender. The lightning projectile is surprisingly weak, unless you use it at point blank range. Then both the sword and the projectile hits, dealing nice burst damage.

Mirrah is a good sword. Incredible reach and pretty versatile. Its a nice dex greatsword.

Drangleic is pretty good too.

Drakeblood is light and fast, but it has 3 way split damage and needs petrified dragonbone to upgrade. S scaling in dex though.

Blackknight greatsword is great. Its heavy, and uses a lot of stamina, but it hits like a truck and has built fire damage. It also has incredibly long reach. I think its about the same length as a zwei or mirrah.

Never used the loyce greatsword, because Frigid Outskirts is an affront to good design.

Yeah, you'll need 36/30 to powerstance mirrah and zwei. If they are compatible. I don't powerstance often, so I don't know all of the combinations.

 

[Black Angel]

I made the switch from Bastard Sword to Zweihander and the ZH does some bitching damage. Tested both on the knights in Iron Keep and the BS killed the regular ones in 2 hits, the captains in 3 hits while the ZH needed 3 and 4, respectively. Thing is, the BS was at +10 and the Zwei unupgraded.

I know you made it clear you haven't upgraded your bass cannon Zwei, but could it be you aren't used to Zwei's sweet spot, yet? Weapons in Souls games, especially in DaS2 had a precise sweet spot where it dealt most damage. Although, with any type of sword maybe you don't need to worry about hitting with the sweet spot.

 

[CthuluIsSpy]

Yeah, DS2 has the direct damage system, where each weapon has a certain point where they deal the most amount of damage.
For halberd type weapons, for example, it's completely possible to deal no damage to a target if the blade misses them completely.

With sword type weapons I think the middle of the blade has to connect in order to get optimal damage. If you hit with just the tip you wont deal as much. That's my observation. I haven't used every sword in the game, but that appears to be the case with most of them.

 

[Hyperion]

Strength-based Greatswords, you simply can't go wrong with a Mastodon Greatsword. Believe it's the highest raw damage greatsword, which makes sense given its weight at like 15 units or something. If insane stat requirements don't bother you - Majestic Greatsword, or Ruler's Sword for sure. Ruler's for pure brute force with more Souls, Majestic if you wanna be like Artorias.

If you don't mind dex-based, the Loyce Greatsword is unmatched. Especially if you plan on doing any PvP at all. It's just an incredible weapon all around. Too good, perhaps.

 

[CthuluIsSpy]

The tricky thing about the majestic sword though is that you have to wield it in your left hand if you want to use it to full effectiveness.
Which a nice gimmick I guess. Doesn't make much sense because its implied that Artorias's shield hand got wrecked, not his sword hand, which is why he had to leave his shield behind.
For controller users it probably won't matter that much, but for a KB + M user like me it does feel a bit awkward pressing shift.
Yes, I know the default bindings have light left hand attack on the left mouse button, but I'm used to the DSMFix setup I had for DS1.

The loyce greatsword is a real bitch to get though, and by the time you get it you're probably already close to finishing the game cycle. It takes like a minute to traverse that damn wasteland, and that's not even talking about the horses. Caves of the Dead and Iron Passage were short, at least. Whoever designed the Frigid Wastes deserves to ride on a horse barebacked.