Dark Souls II - Scholar of the First Sin - April 7, 2015
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guardian_owl
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It's the same thing that happened in Dark Souls 1, a little bit after release they scaled back the difficulty and made things a little easier. That's crazy that THAT many more people die from falls over traps, though I guess with the clunky jumping system and more severe falling damage it makes sense. The inventory armor choices make complete sense though since Dranglec outclasses everything for so long unless you take the time to reinforce equipment which is difficult when ore is in such short supply early in the game. It is so odd that it is easier to obtain large shards (can purchase as soon as you get to the Iron Keep) and chunks (bell covenant in the Bastille) than it is to get small shards (which are sold in limited quantities until you get pretty far into the game).
I guess I just need to turn the music volume back up, I am listening to some of the boss songs on youttube and they are great, but I don't seem to perceive them in battle at all. I originally turned it down a little because the music was so much louder than the voices that I was having difficulty hearing the NPCs in Majula.
I guess I just need to turn the music volume back up, I am listening to some of the boss songs on youttube and they are great, but I don't seem to perceive them in battle at all. I originally turned it down a little because the music was so much louder than the voices that I was having difficulty hearing the NPCs in Majula.
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Yep, you need to beat the Giant Lord in the memory of the giant behind the king door in the forest of fallen giants. To enter those you'll need the Ashen Mist Heart from the Ancient Dragon on top of Dragon Shrine.once you've done that go back to the throne room in the castle and fight the last boss.
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So if someone invades me and I kill myself, does the invader earn their completion item? If not, I've found a pretty good troll spot. In Huntsman Copse I've been getting invaded by arbiters within seconds of spawning in, so what I started doing is going up the ladder by one of the campfires and then jumping across to a platform across from the bonfire. I watch & laugh while they run all around the map looking for me, then when they start to stand still, i'll fire arrows at them to freak them out. If someone finds me and starts to attack (I seem to come across a lot of Lightning Spears when facing arbiters) i'll usually just jump off the ledge and kill myself.
I've got so much more to go til i get to Tseldora just to find out how many thousands (if not millions) of souls it needs to clear my sin.
I've got so much more to go til i get to Tseldora just to find out how many thousands (if not millions) of souls it needs to clear my sin.
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F$*@$ing Darklurker...
SO I finally slogged my way through the Pilgrims of the Dark. It took a ton of effigies to clear all 3 areas and then several more to figure out why I wasn't rank 2. I went through each one multiple times even after I cleared them to try to figure it out. I thought I was screwed because I read somewhere that if you offer an effigy while not a member of the covenant and then clear it you don't rank up. (Note that you can't enter the portal without being part of the covenant - you can switch after you offer the effigy). I did that so I was pretty worried that I had a glitch there. But eventually I figured out that one of the fires wasn't lit (even though I lit it).
What fooled me was that in one area the fire stayed lit even though I died and in the hardest one (Black Gulch), where the fire isn't on the way to the exit, apparently it didn't stay lit. So I had to redo that (for like the 4th time) to light the fire again. Finally I got rank 2. So then nothing opens up like some of the guides/wikis said. One said something about an elevator!? But no, it appears you have to slog through any of the 3 yet again just for the chance at Darklurker. I can make it through the phantoms about 1 out of 3 times (Shaded Ruins seems to be the easiest one). Then I can get Darklurker down to about 1/10th health but I always die without fail at that point (if not sooner). Grrr... I made a PS+ backup when I finally unlocked rank 2 and was down to 10 effigies. I used all those plus a few more that I bought in a futile attempt to kill Darklurker. Tomorrow night I'll reload my save and do it again. I need a break - even though I just had a 9 day one while I was out of town. I might try to help on the end bosses and use those souls to level up my Chime and Faith stat so I can use a few less lightning spears to take her/them out. I get so close that I feel like if those had a bit more power behind them I could probably do it.
I just wish they made it easier to get down there - or at least removed the need for effigies once you cleared all 3 areas. That is a pain in the ass. Most of the crap they are "fixing" for the patch is stuff I have already been through and didn't have much problem with (the mages in the Shrine area I didn't find all that difficult - seems odd that people are making a big deal out of that). But this, no, they leave it as is
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I can't believe they are nerfing pyro even more though. Firestorm is so slow as it is that it is nearly useless. I get killed pretty much whenever I try to use it, so I've switched back to spells. Though it was the only way I could get through Royal Rat Authority (since one Firestorm takes out all the little ones and if you can hit the big one with it twice you can kill him). But then they are making him easier as well. I agree with that change even though I beat his "hard" mode apparently
. He was a pain.
I got invaded when I was talking to Darkdiver Grandahl in the Shaded Woods. I jumped down to the acid area so I wouldn't have to engage the invader too close to Darkdiver. Eventually he found his way in there but just kind of walked up to me whereupon I wailed on him and got him down to 1/5 health. Then I got phantom backstabbed (was facing him when the animation happened). But I recovered from that and was able to take him out. It sucks that you get nothing for that when you aren't in the right covenant.
SO I finally slogged my way through the Pilgrims of the Dark. It took a ton of effigies to clear all 3 areas and then several more to figure out why I wasn't rank 2. I went through each one multiple times even after I cleared them to try to figure it out. I thought I was screwed because I read somewhere that if you offer an effigy while not a member of the covenant and then clear it you don't rank up. (Note that you can't enter the portal without being part of the covenant - you can switch after you offer the effigy). I did that so I was pretty worried that I had a glitch there. But eventually I figured out that one of the fires wasn't lit (even though I lit it).
What fooled me was that in one area the fire stayed lit even though I died and in the hardest one (Black Gulch), where the fire isn't on the way to the exit, apparently it didn't stay lit. So I had to redo that (for like the 4th time) to light the fire again. Finally I got rank 2. So then nothing opens up like some of the guides/wikis said. One said something about an elevator!? But no, it appears you have to slog through any of the 3 yet again just for the chance at Darklurker. I can make it through the phantoms about 1 out of 3 times (Shaded Ruins seems to be the easiest one). Then I can get Darklurker down to about 1/10th health but I always die without fail at that point (if not sooner). Grrr... I made a PS+ backup when I finally unlocked rank 2 and was down to 10 effigies. I used all those plus a few more that I bought in a futile attempt to kill Darklurker. Tomorrow night I'll reload my save and do it again. I need a break - even though I just had a 9 day one while I was out of town. I might try to help on the end bosses and use those souls to level up my Chime and Faith stat so I can use a few less lightning spears to take her/them out. I get so close that I feel like if those had a bit more power behind them I could probably do it.
I just wish they made it easier to get down there - or at least removed the need for effigies once you cleared all 3 areas. That is a pain in the ass. Most of the crap they are "fixing" for the patch is stuff I have already been through and didn't have much problem with (the mages in the Shrine area I didn't find all that difficult - seems odd that people are making a big deal out of that). But this, no, they leave it as is
.I can't believe they are nerfing pyro even more though. Firestorm is so slow as it is that it is nearly useless. I get killed pretty much whenever I try to use it, so I've switched back to spells. Though it was the only way I could get through Royal Rat Authority (since one Firestorm takes out all the little ones and if you can hit the big one with it twice you can kill him). But then they are making him easier as well. I agree with that change even though I beat his "hard" mode apparently
. He was a pain.I got invaded when I was talking to Darkdiver Grandahl in the Shaded Woods. I jumped down to the acid area so I wouldn't have to engage the invader too close to Darkdiver. Eventually he found his way in there but just kind of walked up to me whereupon I wailed on him and got him down to 1/5 health. Then I got phantom backstabbed (was facing him when the animation happened). But I recovered from that and was able to take him out. It sucks that you get nothing for that when you aren't in the right covenant.
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+1
As a melee user I had 0 problems getting through all 3 areas. I would try and single pull each black phantom and kill them one at a time. I use an ultra great sword two handed so I can normally kill them in 3-4 swings. However, the Darklurker is another beast altogether.
His sword is magic, so say so long to my shield being as useful as opposed to EVERY OTHER BOSS. Granted I only fought him once and lasted about 2 minutes before dying. I'm sure if I had more time to learn his move set and find holes in his defenses while maintaining my own. Frankly though I often get a good feel for a boss while I'm just blocking constantly. Mitigating all that damage and seeing potential holes helps me learn. With Darklurker I don't get that same luxury.... and the human effigies...
So much NOPE I tried him once and moved on....
Now I know you were talking about getting all the spells/hexes etc and beating NG+ and going to NG++ lets you buy most of the spells? How far into NG++ do you have to get? Who or what do you buy them from and which do you have to aquire the "normal" way?
Working on the platinum and like you io.. I hate Darklurker
guardian_owl
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Yep, I was hoping in the patch they would lessen some of the rather high requirements for certain covenants (like Blue Sentinels) It's going to suck as a faith build to not get Wrath of God until I am basically done with my platinum run, but that would just be too damn tedious to get 150 PVP kills.
Up to 45 faith (50 with the faith ring) so I'll probably be doing that quest pretty soon too to get the Dragon Chime since it is unequivocally the best chime. Then I'll just have to find a place to farm twinkling titanite.
I think those in NG must still be able to fight in boss fights which have been leveled up with bonfire ascetic, at least I assume that was a lvl 2 Iron King boss fire I was pulled into as a phantom since he started off the fight [customspoiler='boss details']Diving below the surface and reappearing on the right side, facing the platform lengthwise so instead of moving left and right to avoid attacks you can only really move backwards and forwards.[/customspoiler]
It is somewhat humorous that pretty much the first time a host fights him (the cutscene plays ) he is almost immediately knocked backward into the lava and dies, which is the same thing I did the first time. I actually didn't have that much problem with him solo after that initial fail, keep my back to the wall when he attacks with sweeping fist attacks in case he hits me and run to the other side when he starts to slowly rotate when shooting fire. The only time I resorted to using lightning spear is when he was down to his last sliver of health and started charging up some kind of two-fisted flame attack.
Time to go stumble through the shaded woods, the torch didn't help much with visible distance when I explored a little about a week and a half ago, I wonder if cast light helps at all?
It is definitely worth leveling up your chime (you'll likely get more +damage per soul expended than leveling up faith) to +9/max and infusing it with boltstone (buy from blue sentinels) to increase the lightning damage (especially since you can farm slabs), I went with the priest's chime since though it has slightly slower casting, it has S scaling with Faith. If faith is not your focus you might be better off with the protective chime, it has the same casting speed as the cleric one, the same B scaling, but higher base damage (though it also requires 25 faith). You can also load on the ring of prayer (it's a better deal to buy the ring instead of level up if you are above lvl 60), the sunbros ring, and the clear bluestone ring (+casting speed) to help increase your damage per second.
Up to 45 faith (50 with the faith ring) so I'll probably be doing that quest pretty soon too to get the Dragon Chime since it is unequivocally the best chime. Then I'll just have to find a place to farm twinkling titanite.
I think those in NG must still be able to fight in boss fights which have been leveled up with bonfire ascetic, at least I assume that was a lvl 2 Iron King boss fire I was pulled into as a phantom since he started off the fight [customspoiler='boss details']Diving below the surface and reappearing on the right side, facing the platform lengthwise so instead of moving left and right to avoid attacks you can only really move backwards and forwards.[/customspoiler]
It is somewhat humorous that pretty much the first time a host fights him (the cutscene plays ) he is almost immediately knocked backward into the lava and dies, which is the same thing I did the first time. I actually didn't have that much problem with him solo after that initial fail, keep my back to the wall when he attacks with sweeping fist attacks in case he hits me and run to the other side when he starts to slowly rotate when shooting fire. The only time I resorted to using lightning spear is when he was down to his last sliver of health and started charging up some kind of two-fisted flame attack.
Time to go stumble through the shaded woods, the torch didn't help much with visible distance when I explored a little about a week and a half ago, I wonder if cast light helps at all?
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As long as you die, it counts as win for the arbiter. A lot of the arbiters use Lightning Spears because the leader, Targray, sells Boltstones which scale with faith. Basically, its the unofficial Miracle covenant.
I found the torch to be a little better than cast light which isn't saying much in terms of visibility. At least cast light allows you to run around with a shield up.
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Man, don't know how you are killing those phantoms with 3 or 4 swings. It takes me 8-10 and of course my stamina runs out and then the other ones sometimes gang up on me and kill me. I suppose I should try two-handing (I am using a greatsword, though not an ultra). Unlike most areas where once I run them several times I know just how to take out every enemy, these guys are much more unpredictable. Sometimes I can lure them one a time, and sometimes they all come running at me at once. There doesn't seem a set way to deal with them. The shaded ruins one seems easiest because there are the 3 at the beginning and no tank guy with a club (who usually creams me in the Drangleic castle one). There is an archer, a dagger guy, and the spell caster. I can usually bait one or two back into the tunnel and deal with them. Then the 4th guy is down the elevator and he's easy to take out one-on-one.Dwarfman said:Now I know you were talking about getting all the spells/hexes etc and beating NG+ and going to NG++ lets you buy most of the spells? How far into NG++ do you have to get? Who or what do you buy them from and which do you have to aquire the "normal" way?
It is my understanding from reading various sites that you can get all the spells/hexes/miracles from doing the Sunbro covenant, the Bell covenant (to level 2), and the Pilgrims of the Dark (have to beat Darklurker) plus going through NG++ up to the Chancellor (ghost NPC that sells stuff in Drangleic castle). He sells the remaining covenant reward spells/etc there. I am doing the bell covenant by fighting the red phantom in Belfry Sol offline. I'm rank 1 (10 kills) and have killed him 9 times since then - so I should just have 11 more kills to go to get to rank 2. He spawns about 1 of every 3 or 4 times into there (though sometimes there are long droughts when he won't come 10 or more times - I usually stop then and do something else). You can also farm sun medals from Harvest Valley apparently - though that is the covenant I maxed out early in the game. If you are online it is easy (but I've seen non-Gold Xbox 360 players say they have to farm them rather than pay for Xbox Live).
Wait, I didn't know infusing them with boltstone would make a difference - or if it did I figured it would only count for melee damage (like if you actually hit something with the chime which I would never do). Does it actually scale the lightning spear damage?guardian_owl said:
I've been using the Archdrake Chime (and staff). They seemed like the best of what I had. It gets hard to compare once you level one up though - can't tell what the other ones at +5 or +6 (where I'm at now) would be.
How do you get this Dragon Chime?
My Faith isn't nearly that high. I'm at 32 or so. I also don't have the Faith ring - where do you get that? At 50, or even 45, I'd probably be able to handle Darklurker pretty easily with everything else being the same.
Basically, I can avoid most of Darklurker's attacks but the one that invariably gets me is the hex orb one. That one will come in from the side and I'll never see it until it hits me. The sword and the fireballs are easier to avoid.
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I have no clue what happened today but I no longer have "Sinner" on my Status and i'm not being invaded by arbiters anymore. After last night's arbiter trolling I logged on today, joined 2 people's games (both times the person that summoned me died). I used an effigy to go ahead and do some summoning of my own and thats when I noticed my sin was gone.
I know its weird to say, but its so much more peaceful in the game now.
I know its weird to say, but its so much more peaceful in the game now.
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guardian_owl
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Yep, it is based partly on your lightning attack stat. If you infuse it with boltstone it increases your miracle damage, but decreases your hex damage and vice versa if you infuse with Dark. Archdrake is still pretty good (and it's better at Hexes than Priest's), it has the same speed as priest, higher base damage, though lower faith stat scaling so I'm not sure where the break even point is.
You can buy the faith ring from miracle vendor who swaps the entrance of Huntsman's corpse and Heide Tower. I'm not sure what the break even point is either between the ring of faith and the sunbro ring, I just know that I passed it sometime before 42 and now sunbro ring adds more damage if I only have enough room for 1 ring or the other.
You get the dragon chime for maxing out Pilgrim of the Dark and talking to the dude (after beating dark lurker), it requires 50 faith to wield though.
Have you tried using alluring skull against the blue phantoms to make the run to the boss easier? I'm not sure what your intelligence is, but apparently there is a spell that has a similar effect, yearn, sold by the sorcerer who was in the Wharf.
Yes, I think every time you die when an arbiter has invaded you lose some sin.
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I finally beat Darklurker. It took another 15 or so effigies to get it done. I should have done this from the beginning but I was finally able to do it when I maxed out my Archdrake's Chime. I only did that for the last 2 attempts (and first of those two times the blue phantoms got me again). Then of course I get the awesome Dragon Chime just afterwards. Though with that 50 Faith requirement it will be a while (I'm at 38).
So now I'm really low on effigies. Does any merchant carry an unlimited supply? I know I bought most of the 1500 souls ones from the old woman merchant. I probably won't need many more until NG+ and I'll be able to find more there (and won't need to do this stupid Pilgrims of the Dark any more).
Anyway, what a relief. So I figured I'd get the hex trophy taken care of at least. But then I hesitated - one of the souls required is for the Giant Lord. But isn't that one of the ones you need to make the the fight with the king easier? Does it matter if you trade it in (as long as you at least had it at some point)? Since I have yet to take on the king, I don't want to make that any harder than it has to be.
Oh man, I almost got killed after Darklurker was dead which I know in this game (as in the previous ones) means you fail even though youi beat the boss. One of the duo had the fireballs up when I killed them - but they still fired a second or two after I got the "Victory" message. I had relaxed for a moment, but was just barely able to dodge them. That would have pissed me off if I got killed there. I had them down to a tiny amount of health 2 or 3 times before that and died.
So now I'm really low on effigies. Does any merchant carry an unlimited supply? I know I bought most of the 1500 souls ones from the old woman merchant. I probably won't need many more until NG+ and I'll be able to find more there (and won't need to do this stupid Pilgrims of the Dark any more).
Anyway, what a relief. So I figured I'd get the hex trophy taken care of at least. But then I hesitated - one of the souls required is for the Giant Lord. But isn't that one of the ones you need to make the the fight with the king easier? Does it matter if you trade it in (as long as you at least had it at some point)? Since I have yet to take on the king, I don't want to make that any harder than it has to be.
Oh man, I almost got killed after Darklurker was dead which I know in this game (as in the previous ones) means you fail even though youi beat the boss. One of the duo had the fireballs up when I killed them - but they still fired a second or two after I got the "Victory" message. I had relaxed for a moment, but was just barely able to dodge them. That would have pissed me off if I got killed there. I had them down to a tiny amount of health 2 or 3 times before that and died.
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guardian_owl
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Ah, OK, thanks. I thought that might be the case. I'll see what I have. You can get 5 of those if you beat the ancient dragon, right? I ought to have 4 now. I am going to attempt Vendrick again soon. I only tried him once a while ago.guardian_owl said:
I just need to do that, finish up the Belfry Soul red phantom farming, then maybe the ancient dragon and then I guess I'm on to NG+. I'm sitting at SL 171 with 120 hours in and am still on NG
.Ah, hell no. But if they had done that I'd probably be done with the game - wouldn't see the point of trying to do these extra things that I am doing for the plat. I certainly wouldn't play NG+ or NG++ without that incentive. So maybe I kind of wish they did so I could stop and move on to some other gameBezerker said:
.I have been trying to kill the Ancient Dragon tonight - no going. I just watched a video where it looked oh so easy to melee his back feet. Yet whenever I try that his fire AOE attack gets me even if I run for his tail. Or it just takes me too long to orient myself once I unlock from his feet I guess. I dunno what it is. So I'm trying it out some more by helping. I've been able to last longer that way. A few times I was doing well but the host died.
Then I read on the Wiki that if you absolve your sins it resets the dragon and makes it much easier. So I went and checked and I'll be damned but that bastard wants 177,000 souls from me! I never killed an NPC or anything. I guess attacking the dragon counts? But then paying all that just to reset him seems pointless since, unless you kill him first try again, you'll just be back to owing all those souls. Unless something else did it - but I never invade anyone and haven't touched an NPC besides Pate. Does he count (when he's in the fight with the other guy and you are supposed to choose one)? I'd rather use 177,000 souls to level up.
I also realized that you can't get all the hexes from standard NG. You at least have to do the Rotten with an Ascetic - which I did to get Lucatiel's trophy. The problem is I reloaded my save from PS+ afterwards since I didn't want NG+ to be any harder than it has to be. I was also missing a hex found in the rat area since I didn't use the Pharros lockstone to lower the drawbridge. I assumed everything there was traps for the covenant so I avoided them all after mistakenly doing the first one I saw. I guess now that I have all the others I could do the Rotten again with an ascetic. It was pretty easy even the second time, though I did use a human summons in addition to Lucatiel.
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The Ancient Dragon has an easier pattern that involves staying in front of him, with a front and back leg lined up diagonally, causing him to do the forward fire breath over and over again. I've killed the dragon 4 times now this way, and only had him use the flying AoE attack once when I broke pattern. Basically, what this guy does.
http://www.twitch.tv/pegs0/c/4009453
Yea, i just looked online at some Anc Drag vids and another good method seems to be standing under him next to his back feet at all times. Apparently he'll only do stomps & breathing fire underneath him, all which are easily avoidable. As I always died to him while he was in the air, it seems like a good method for me to try out once I get there in NG+ (currently in Shrine of Amana)
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Ancient Dragon is also easier if you did it alone. Not only does he have less health but since his attacks are pretty much 1 hit kill if you play with multiple people and someone dies you just made it harder for yourself. Since his attacks are also huge aoe is harder to know our predict who he'll target of 3 people are running around.
guardian_owl
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Well finished sunbros covenant and decided to try blue sentinels a little, tried a blue cracked orb a few times and couldn't find anyone to invade with Sin. Also sat for awhile with the ring on and was never summoned, I think it would be quite tedious indeed to get 150 kills. Maybe if we are close enough in soul memory I would be able to invade and kill you. Io. to lower your sin. It's a shame grey phantoms don't count, I'd just sit there and kill bell covenant for awhile.
guardian_owl
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I see what you mean, first area I cleared was under Draglec castle. First time I immediately walked the wrong way and fell into deep water and died so I equipped cast light to find my way through. Then I immediately aggroed 3 phantoms from 3 different tunnels and they wailed on me and I died. Then I carefully tiptoed through and killed them all the 3rd time, but the area is so curvy wurvy and dark it took me 5 minutes to find the tunnel with the last guy after lighting the chalice. For 2 of those minutes I contemplated jumping into that hole next to it because I thought maybe that was the way out.
What threw me, and what apparently also threw you is you don't rank up any for clearing the second area. I cleared the second area in the black gulch, talked to Darkdiver, nothing so I thought maybe it hadn't registered so I did it again, still nothing. The second rank is obtained by finishing the third level and then the third rank is for killing the boss. It would have been much less confusing if clearing the second area was rank 2 and then killing the boss was rank 3.
Shaded ruins is definitely the easiest one to do for the run to Darklurker, there is only one area with 3 and it is fairly easy to aggro the arrow guy by himself with a telescoped lightning bolt to the face. The other 2 levels have beefy melee characters with lots of poise that it is quite easy to die to if you make a mistake. Beat Darklurker after 7 or 8 tries, but I still have no idea how to dodge that dark bolt explosion from above. I just had to use the long cast time to hit him with 2 lightning bolts, take the hit, then carefully dodge long enough to flask up.
I too got felled by a fire attack from the twin that he cast just as I got the victory message on my 3rd attempt.
This dragon chime is awesome, only have enough twinkling to get it to +3 and it is already matching the lightning damage of my bolted +10 priest chime and I haven't even bolted it yet.
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I'm currently in the Undead Crypt, and having just finished the Shrine, I don't think the patch did crap to the mages. I was in the middle of the shrine when it came out, so I literally played it the day before and the day after. I was looking forward to that change, buit the mages still seem to aggro from way too far away and the heat-seeking is still fairly aggressive (maybe not quite as bad). I'm just glad to be done with that damn area.
I've read elsewhere and with video, that the Xbox 360 version has tracking totally removed there. PS3 though, has slightly less tracking. :lol:
Yeah I'm not so sure the tracking got much of a nerf. I went through Shrine my 2nd time (on NG+) and didn't really notice much of a change. Luckily the patch fixed the issues with becoming human again after helping out as a phantom and I'm human much more of the game than I was in my first playthrough. I summoned _____ the Brave (forgot first name?) and she went charging ahead and I just sniped them as she took most of the heat. Once I got to that 3rd Bonfire I was home free. That 2nd stretch is the one that is the worst.
I'm just charging through NG+. Got the King's Ring (didn't fight Vendrick). Clearing the Dragon Shrine and finishing up a few of the side bosses. I think I'm roughly Soul Level 236? Takes about 200,000 souls now to level up. About 82 hours of gameplay.
Still not looking forward to Darklurker.....I have a few more Bell Keeper kills to get to hit Rank 2 and the Darklurker kill. Then just need to get to the Chancellor in NG++ and I'll have the platinum.
britton_draws
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WOAH!
I have been playing piece by piece on this second character and wow is my magic strong!
I am already at like 135, the same level as my first character AFTER I beat the game. Right now I am closing in on the Mirror Knight. Seeing as I know exactly what I want for this build, I haven't really wasted spending any souls on random things to try stuff out and so it has all gone to leveling specific weapons/armor and my character in general.
That being said, I just fought the Dragonriders and they were an absolute JOKE with a highly leveled Lightning Spear, each was dead in seconds!
I can't wait to get my Witch's Hat alreadyyyyyyy, haha I am getting antsy and want it!
I have been playing piece by piece on this second character and wow is my magic strong!
I am already at like 135, the same level as my first character AFTER I beat the game. Right now I am closing in on the Mirror Knight. Seeing as I know exactly what I want for this build, I haven't really wasted spending any souls on random things to try stuff out and so it has all gone to leveling specific weapons/armor and my character in general.
That being said, I just fought the Dragonriders and they were an absolute JOKE with a highly leveled Lightning Spear, each was dead in seconds!
I can't wait to get my Witch's Hat alreadyyyyyyy, haha I am getting antsy and want it!
guardian_owl
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Ya, I can't wait until I get far enough in the game that I can buy more casts of Great Lightning from a vendor, In a couple more levels I'll be able to equip sunlight spear though I'm not sure how often I'll actually use it in PvE considering it takes 2 slots and only has 3 casts.
Can't take credit for these, I found them on Gamefaqs someone did the math/testing to figure out when you get extra casts of each spell via attunnement. The possible break points (may or may not get an extra cast depending on how few charges it starts with) are 10, 15, 26, 32, 38, 43, 49, 58, 79, 94. For instance 3-4 starting charges usually gets it's first extra charge at 32.
[customspoiler='Sorcery][IMG]http://i.imgur.com/dIVSOUW.jpg[/IMG][/customspoiler]
[customspoiler='Miracle][IMG]http://i.imgur.com/E4BFAbz.jpg[/IMG][/customspoiler]
[customspoiler='Pyromancy']
[/customspoiler]
[customspoiler='Hexes]
[/customspoiler]
Can't take credit for these, I found them on Gamefaqs someone did the math/testing to figure out when you get extra casts of each spell via attunnement. The possible break points (may or may not get an extra cast depending on how few charges it starts with) are 10, 15, 26, 32, 38, 43, 49, 58, 79, 94. For instance 3-4 starting charges usually gets it's first extra charge at 32.
[customspoiler='Sorcery][IMG]http://i.imgur.com/dIVSOUW.jpg[/IMG][/customspoiler]
[customspoiler='Miracle][IMG]http://i.imgur.com/E4BFAbz.jpg[/IMG][/customspoiler]
[customspoiler='Pyromancy']
[customspoiler='Hexes]
britton_draws
Formerly BrolyB593
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Woah!
I was not even aware that Attunement governed number of casts at all
That being said I think I have mine capped at 30 since after that each attunement slot costs 10+ levels.
Knowing this now I really want to get mine to at least 40 then...
I am still focusing on some spell requirements. Is there ever any other way to obtain spices in the game other than the few you get throughout the journey and the couple you can purchase? Is there a hard number on how many you can obtain of each in one playthrough?
guardian_owl
CAGiversary!
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I just finished the Duke (the 4th) and I've found 8 of both of them so far. I haven't used any of them yet as I imagine I'll use them on some of the top tier spells with ridiculous requirements (like bolt thunder at 65 faith) or perhaps on a Hex.
What can also help is you can buy a ring that does +5 to faith from the Huntman's corpse/Heide Tower switch miracle vendor and a +5 Int ring from the sorcery vendor of the fold from the Wharf (requires 8 base INT to talk to him). The int ring has let me cast a variety of utility sorceries and minor hexes with minimal investment in Int.
===
First time through the shaded woods areas I happened to follow along the left side so I found the shaded ruins without encountering any ghosts. After killing the Duke boss I decided to go back there in the fog and look for items, the shaded woods area is bullshit LOL.
With cast light on and torch burning it doesn't help visibility at all. I can't see any of the ghosts when I am within the fog, only when I am standing on the path to the shaded ruin shrine and look backward at the ghosts which were chasing me can I barely see their outline in the fog. Or for the brief time their health bar is visible once I have struck them after I know they are there because I am getting hit, some of them have crossbows. One melee ghost got away from me after I chopped him and he came around the back of me and did the backstab attack and killed me! I didn't even know normal enemies could do the backstab animation. I had a fun time trying to find my bloodstain in all that fog
.Can you do invasions in the shaded woods? That would probably be quite fun. Invade and then cast unveil to find the host. or does that not work against hosts?
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britton_draws
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Yeah I thought about the rings but I don't want to give up my ring slots! Haha I am like 42 INT and 30 FTH I think right now myself so I am good for the basic spells but the top tier ones are still a ways away. If we can get like 10 of each at least, then that should do a good deal of help though.I just finished the Duke (the 4th) and I've found 8 of both of them so far. I haven't used any of them yet as I imagine I'll use them on some of the top tier spells with ridiculous requirements (like bolt thunder at 65 faith) or perhaps on a Hex.
What can also help is you can buy a ring that does +5 to faith from the Huntman's corpse/Heide Tower switch miracle vendor and a +5 Int ring from the sorcery vendor of the fold from the Wharf (requires 8 base INT to talk to him). The int ring has let me cast a variety of utility sorceries and minor hexes with minimal investment in Int.
===
First time through the shaded woods areas I happened to follow along the left side so I found the shaded ruins without encountering any ghosts. After killing the Duke boss I decided to go back there in the fog and look for items, the shaded woods area is bullshit LOL.
With cast light on and torch burning it doesn't help visibility at all. I can't see any of the ghosts when I am within the fog, only when I am standing on the path to the shaded ruin shrine and look backward at the ghosts which were chasing me can I barely see their outline in the fog. Or for the brief time their health bar is visible once I have struck them after I know they are there because I am getting hit, some of them have crossbows. One melee ghost got away from me after I chopped him and he came around the back of me and did the backstab attack and killed me! I didn't even know normal enemies could do the backstab animation. I had a fun time trying to find my bloodstain in all that fog
Can you do invasions in the shaded woods? That would probably be quite fun. Invade and then cast unveil to find the host. or does that not work against hosts?
AND I DID THE SAME THING WITH THE SHADED WOODS. I raced through the area and didn't both with the ghosts but then when I went back later to get the items I was screaming at the tv in minutes.
You can farm enemies for them. Witches in the crypt drop spices. Also, remember that using spices on high stat spells that inflict direct damage will lower their scaling from those stats.
britton_draws
Formerly BrolyB593
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I dont know how I missed it in my 1st playthrough but the Black Witch's Staff is amazing for casters.
http://darksouls2.wiki.fextralife.com/Black+Witch%27s+Staff#.U0wtVldgE08
Being able to switch from Soul Arrow to Dark Orb to Lightning Spear just by hitting up is sooo nice, and it scales pretty good to all 4 "elements". I'm almost done with NG+, I want to finish off the ancient dragon but I am finding that all he does when I run into the boss room is instantly jump in the air and fry everything. I finally was able to get past it one time and I ended up right under his tail when he landed so it crushed me to death.
http://darksouls2.wiki.fextralife.com/Black+Witch%27s+Staff#.U0wtVldgE08
Being able to switch from Soul Arrow to Dark Orb to Lightning Spear just by hitting up is sooo nice, and it scales pretty good to all 4 "elements". I'm almost done with NG+, I want to finish off the ancient dragon but I am finding that all he does when I run into the boss room is instantly jump in the air and fry everything. I finally was able to get past it one time and I ended up right under his tail when he landed so it crushed me to death.
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britton_draws
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I haven't looked into it, but I imagine it would be more powerful to use individual items for the spells right? Like a maxed Staff and a maxed Chime would each individually do better than the Witch's Staff right? I dont mind swapping between the items; my left hand is staff, chime and then flame and I have gotten pretty efficient at swapping around.
I haven't even looked at which end game item I will use for my caster yet, I was focused on the MLGS and the spells themselves. I am currently running a maxed out Sorcerer's Staff and I believe like a Priests Chime +7 or so.
I am going for a FTH and INT build using the MLGS. I do not care for the Hexes all that much and am sticking primarily with Spells and Miracles (and a pyro here and there). Which ones would be best suited for me?
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I tried this a few times and while I can get further (like I can take him down to 3/4 healthKrebStar said:
instead of insta-dying) he will inevitably do the AOE attack and there is just no way to get away from that. If I run towards his tail he gets me underneath him. If I run the other way I might get away a few times, but then he moves towards the edge and there's no more space to run away from in that direction - and if you go back under him again you get killed there. (I just watched this video and I guess I'm not going far enough away to bait that attack. I was staying too close to him).I did finally figure this out. I don't know how many times I got killed instantly when I had 2 phantoms with me because while I would run towards his head and veer left to trigger his sweeping attack and get to his feet, they might go way off to the right and trigger his AOE attack instead. Doing it by myself I finally was able to get him down a bit at least and I see now how it could at least be possible to beat him. I also didn't realize that he had more health with phantoms but now that I can get in there and wail on his feet a bit I see that I am doing much more damage (proportionally relative to his health bar) than I was before. Also, I noticed that the regular enemies leading up to the dragon take many more hits when I'm helping someone. At least in my own game I've cleared out all the enemies so I just have to run up there to fight him. But I've probably died close to 50 times now trying to kill him and I've never gotten him less than 1/4 to 1/3 down in health. (Note that many of those times were as a coop summons helper and often the host died and not meDwarfman said:
).No, I knew that. I had cleared all 3 areas several times. What threw me off was that in the one area where the fire is off a side path, that one did not stay lit when I died on the level. In another area, it DID stay lit when I died (and went back in to finish it completely). So I had assumed it stayed lit in the other area too (which was the hardest of the 3 of course). Finally when I went through all of them more thoroughly I found that fire that wasn't li (even though like I said I did it before).guardian_owl said:
I don't consider any way of beating him "cheesing". If you did it while triggering the AOE attack several times and were able to get away from it, how the hell did you do that? Like I said, if you run to the tail, which is what I read somewhere, you often don't even make it half way (and this is from attacking his back feet). The problem is he will often fly up, then turn all the way around so his tail is on the other side of the arena. So I decided to just run the opposite way - well, that just triggers him to move closer and closer to the edge and then you are stuck between running off the edge or going back under him again - both of which are guaranteed death.Jodou said:
I need to figure out the exact positioning so as not to trigger that AOE attack and then maybe I can get it done. I'm also having huge problems with the run button not working in key situations (like when I need to run from the AOE attack). I know it is because my stamina is not all the way back up. But I don't have time to wait for that. So I think I'm running when I'm really not and by the time I realize I have to let go of the button and press it again I'm dead. They should at least change that so the running starts as soon as it can if you have the button already pressed.
I took last night off to do my taxes but might try it again tonight. I made one run at Vendrick with just the 4 giant souls and he killed me pretty quickly too - but I think he is much more beatable than the dragon. I was able to get several hits in on him and had a nice chunk of his health gone before he killed me. And that was just my first attempt.
But the funny thing is that the ancient dragon is a big summoning area despite the fact that using summons makes it much harder. I'm over level 180 now and there are usually 7-8 summon signs when I start out and if I throw mine down I get called almost immediately. It was a nice place to level up (on the regular enemies) so I could equip the dragon chime (which by the way I am not seeing even at +5 as being much more powerful than the archdrake chime + 10 that I was using before - certainly it is not enough to make any difference with the dragon or Vendrick). But I just wert fully hollow and am not even bothering with the ring of binding now when attempting the dragon myself - it doesn't matter anyway.
I just don't see how anyone is going to beat that thing with 2 summons. But I assume some people must be successful doing it. Or perhaps those other summons were just like me: helping out to get extra souls from the regular enemies and trying out fight strategies on the dragon. I did notice that a lot of other people calling in help seemed to have cleared out all the regular enemies though
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The witch staff gives convenience and its good for mixed builds. Even at rank 10, its final scaling (A,C, B, A) are still below those catalysts that are meant for their intended schools (S rank scaling and fast cast time). This is assuming you have top tier catalysts of sunset staff/caitha's chime, dragon's chime, or wisdom staff.
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Its been a month but from what I remember you can't just run straight back, since he'll just flame underneath himself. Once he'd lift off, I'd kind of arc away from him and then run towards the shadow of his tail. This would kind of make him spin around the platform with each breath and keep him in the middle. Once I got the rhythm down, he died that attempt.
I could see that but I often can't tell which way is "away" from him because of the camera angle. And the lack of running when I push 'O' doesn't help either. Point is, there are just too many things you can screw up easilyJodou said:
.I did read about an actual "cheesing" method. You use that ring that protects your back (Gower's I think it is?). It is only available in NG+ (or via an ascetic). But apparently that protects you completely from the fire on your back. I don't have the ring so I haven't tried it. But reading about the ring it looks like it only works 5 times before breaking? So I'm still not sure if that is a foolproof method - but since I can occasionally get away from the AOE attack that might be enough. I'm going to try not triggering the AOE attack first though before I resort to that.
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britton_draws
Formerly BrolyB593
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All this talk about the Ancient Dragon makes me feel lame.I could see that but I often can't tell which way is "away" from him because of the camera angle. And the lack of running when I push 'O' doesn't help either. Point is, there are just too many things you can screw up easily
I did read about an actual "cheesing" method. You use that ring that protects your back (Gower's I think it is?). It is only available in NG+ (or via an ascetic). But apparently that protects you completely from the fire on your back. I don't have the ring so I haven't tried it. But reading about the ring it looks like it only works 5 times before breaking? So I'm still not sure if that is a foolproof method - but since I can occasionally get away from the AOE attack that might be enough. I'm going to try not triggering the AOE attack first though before I resort to that.
On my first character I tried him right when I got to him and got ANNIHILATED and then continued on to beat the game and get a few weapons I wanted. Then I started with my new character and I am only at the Mirror Knight so far so I can't even attempt him yet with this new build.
I feel left out since I can't contribute : ( haha
guardian_owl
CAGiversary!
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Is that attack causing critical damage to the back? If so you might try wearing the ironclad armor (turtle shell) it protects the back from backstabs and critical hits. It's a rare drop from Iron clad knights in the Iron Keep. I was able to get one after farming the 3 near the last bonfire with item find gear 7 or 8 times. It is quite heavy though, nearly 30 units, so you'll have to sacrifice on the most of the rest of your armor pieces.I could see that but I often can't tell which way is "away" from him because of the camera angle. And the lack of running when I push 'O' doesn't help either. Point is, there are just too many things you can screw up easily
I did read about an actual "cheesing" method. You use that ring that protects your back (Gower's I think it is?). It is only available in NG+ (or via an ascetic). But apparently that protects you completely from the fire on your back. I don't have the ring so I haven't tried it. But reading about the ring it looks like it only works 5 times before breaking? So I'm still not sure if that is a foolproof method - but since I can occasionally get away from the AOE attack that might be enough. I'm going to try not triggering the AOE attack first though before I resort to that.
I decided to play for a few minutes late last night and I beat the bastard after about 5 more tries!
Here is the easiest way I found after trying many different strategies:
1) First of all, do it solo. Multiple people running all around makes him do all kinds of different attacks including AOE frequently.
2) Unequip armor and stuff so you can run fast (though I'm not sure this makes as much difference as people think).
3) Slap a slumbering dragon shield or some other stamina-recovery shield on your back, but 2-hand your sword or other weapon.
4) Optional: go fully hollow (without Ring of Binding), equip Red Tearstone ring, and run off a few ledges so your health is down to a tiny amount to get the attack boost the ring provides.
5) Optional: Equip Enchanted Gauntlets (the ones that increase critical hit chance)
6) Enter the arena, head straight for the dragon to bait his sweeping fire attack, and while he is doing that, bear left until you are under his head, then head back to the center and go between his front legs to one of his back legs.
7) Here's the key part: get right in between 2 of his 3 talons. But it has to be the ones on the inside of his body. Get right up in there. Do NOT use lock-on. Position the camera to look diagonally behind the dragon (in between the other back foot and his tail). Then hit him just 2, maybe 3 times tops. If you do it too much you might not have the stamina to run/roll when he stomps.
8) Wait for him to lift that leg up for a stomp, and then roll towards the view of your camera - ie, towards his other foot but back a bit towards his tail.
9) Move over to the other foot and repeat until he is dead...
There are a few things you need to get the hang of. I got stomped the first few times I tried it because I got hung up on his foot as I tried to roll/run. I found that going towards the back worked better than straight across to the other foot. Also, he will move a bit as you get to the other foot - he shifts his foot maybe a half-width to the outside. It is critical that you reposition to get right in between his toes (as his move will push you back out)! If you are even a bit outside, he may do his underneath fire breathing or the AOE attack. The underneath fire is easy to avoid (just run out to his side when he rears up). But the problem is that then he might do an AOE attack afterwards if you are still anywhere outside his toes.
In any case, it probably only took me 10 or so times switching back and forth between his feet to kill him. After 50+ tries, it was really pretty easy when I finally did it. I had never gotten him less than 50-75% before the time I finally got him all the way.
So I went in to check out Vendrick afterwards and I never noticed this before, but he actually has less armor when you get more of the Giant Souls. I mean I knew his defense went down, but it is manifest visually by him wearing less. With all 5 giant souls, he is basically just a big ol' ugly green hollow. Now, he still annihilated me with one hit (even after I put all my armor back on). So I will have to read up on how to beat him. But the one lightning spear I got in on him took about 1/8 of his health. So as long as I can figure out how to avoid that sword (dodging didn't help) I should be able to handle him. My problem is that it is so dark in there and his sword + long arms have much more reach than I expect them to.
Here is the easiest way I found after trying many different strategies:
1) First of all, do it solo. Multiple people running all around makes him do all kinds of different attacks including AOE frequently.
2) Unequip armor and stuff so you can run fast (though I'm not sure this makes as much difference as people think).
3) Slap a slumbering dragon shield or some other stamina-recovery shield on your back, but 2-hand your sword or other weapon.
4) Optional: go fully hollow (without Ring of Binding), equip Red Tearstone ring, and run off a few ledges so your health is down to a tiny amount to get the attack boost the ring provides.
5) Optional: Equip Enchanted Gauntlets (the ones that increase critical hit chance)
6) Enter the arena, head straight for the dragon to bait his sweeping fire attack, and while he is doing that, bear left until you are under his head, then head back to the center and go between his front legs to one of his back legs.
7) Here's the key part: get right in between 2 of his 3 talons. But it has to be the ones on the inside of his body. Get right up in there. Do NOT use lock-on. Position the camera to look diagonally behind the dragon (in between the other back foot and his tail). Then hit him just 2, maybe 3 times tops. If you do it too much you might not have the stamina to run/roll when he stomps.
8) Wait for him to lift that leg up for a stomp, and then roll towards the view of your camera - ie, towards his other foot but back a bit towards his tail.
9) Move over to the other foot and repeat until he is dead...
There are a few things you need to get the hang of. I got stomped the first few times I tried it because I got hung up on his foot as I tried to roll/run. I found that going towards the back worked better than straight across to the other foot. Also, he will move a bit as you get to the other foot - he shifts his foot maybe a half-width to the outside. It is critical that you reposition to get right in between his toes (as his move will push you back out)! If you are even a bit outside, he may do his underneath fire breathing or the AOE attack. The underneath fire is easy to avoid (just run out to his side when he rears up). But the problem is that then he might do an AOE attack afterwards if you are still anywhere outside his toes.
In any case, it probably only took me 10 or so times switching back and forth between his feet to kill him. After 50+ tries, it was really pretty easy when I finally did it. I had never gotten him less than 50-75% before the time I finally got him all the way.
So I went in to check out Vendrick afterwards and I never noticed this before, but he actually has less armor when you get more of the Giant Souls. I mean I knew his defense went down, but it is manifest visually by him wearing less. With all 5 giant souls, he is basically just a big ol' ugly green hollow
. Now, he still annihilated me with one hit (even after I put all my armor back on). So I will have to read up on how to beat him. But the one lightning spear I got in on him took about 1/8 of his health. So as long as I can figure out how to avoid that sword (dodging didn't help) I should be able to handle him. My problem is that it is so dark in there and his sword + long arms have much more reach than I expect them to.
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Are you sure? I've always seen him almost butt ass naked walking around in there.So I went in to check out Vendrick afterwards and I never noticed this before, but he actually has less armor when you get more of the Giant Souls. I mean I knew his defense went down, but it is manifest visually by him wearing less. With all 5 giant souls, he is basically just a big ol' ugly green hollow
It seems like the first time I went in there (to get the key) he was heavily armored. And I thought when I went in there before getting the 5th giant soul that he had some sort of clothing at least. I certainly don't remember him being a big green naked zombie. But I could be wrong - it has been a while.Trakan said:
Edit: I looked at some videos and while most of them had 4 or 5 giant souls, it does seem like he maybe always looks like that. I thought he was heavily armored the first time I went in there but maybe I'm mixing him up with someone else.
In any case, it seems the strategy for him is to lock on and circle and keep behind his left leg. The only problem is when he jumps.
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britton_draws
Formerly BrolyB593
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Wow, I just got to the Shrine area on my second build (on the 360) and the lock on/ tracking is a joke now...That area isn't even a challenge in comparison now. The video posted before showed NO tracking, but I tested it and it does track A LITTLE but not really enough to make it a challenge.
Lame move From, lame move.
Lame move From, lame move.
Meh, once you learn any boss' moveset and the timing, these just become endurance fights. Punching him in the face was pretty hilarious though.I did the famous bare fists technique on ancient dragon after watching this video. Get on my level.
bread's done