Dark Souls II - Scholar of the First Sin - April 7, 2015

[Dwarfman]

I completed Belfry Gargoyles tonight (to get the Bastille Key and the Gold +2 ring is a nice benefit as well). I tried to do it online but man, the invasions are just incessant there. It seems like if you beat 2 they ought to stop for that session. But no, they keep coming. I actually beat those two on my own. The first had some enormous enchanted weapon and got me down to a sliver of health but I actually managed to roll past him and backstab him. That's the first time I've ever done that in PvP. I killed another phantom just after that with a few lightning spears, right after I summoned some help.

I completely forgot that you have to go to the top of the tower to ring the bell to go to the gargoyles. I don't even remember doing that last time. So I hadn't gotten the gate open when I summoned the help. Having to deal with the regular guys on the top when invaders are also there is just a pain. The next invader just sat at the top of the ladder and fired some hex that got us as near the top of the ladder. There was really nothing we could do. Then I couldn't even get to the second floor again before two more invaders came. So, yeah, time to pull the plug and clear out the top floor without the bell jackasses. When I went back online the same guy was waiting to help, and this time, since I had the gate open, we went in to the gargoyle fight and left an invader behind. So sweet.

Gah, Belltower... I hated doing that Covenant to rank 2 AND both of those areas with a passion. I made the mistake of not planning ahead on my platinum and didn't really jump into the Belltower covenant until I was around SL 200. While I could still win at PVP a lot of the time my battles would end up being 2 vs 1. Which when you are melee only and use an ultra greatsword you pretty much die right away.

I think they need to rethink the mechanics of PVP. While I understand situations invading someone and there already being 2 people the game should only allow 1 vs 1 and then add in a 2nd when the host player summons a phantom. If the invading player is invading a host with a friendly phantom the game should summon in 2 invaders at the same time. Make it fair on both sides...whatever, I hit rank 2 by farming the Samarai in the Iron Keeps Belfrey Sol area.

I also finally killed Darklurker, I attempted him about 10 times as melee in NG+. I would get him down to where he would split in two and then it was game over everytime. I can dodge all his attacks and get in a well timed swing or two but with 2 throwing crap at me there was no way. My DPS isn't burst or very quick so the battle was stacked against me. Decided to re-roll my stats and made a Strength/Faith magic build. Put enough points in strength to weild Havel's Greatshield + 5 and by Supplice's suggestion a Lightning Mastadon Greatsword + 10 and then points in Faith/Attunment/etc. Darklurker was a JOKE, I literally killed him in about 30 seconds and on my first try.... magic is so OP for bosses IMHO. Sit back and nuke.. oh well.

Moved on to NG++. Have all the trophies except the spells I'll buy from Chancellor Wellner. Already blew through 4-5 zones and bosses. Should get the platinum by tomorrow night.

 

[guardian_owl]

I was pulled into another player's world when I went through the Door of Pharro for the first time, I was killed but since you die in grey phantom form there doesn't appear to be a penalty, you just go back to the spot you were summoned from. unless I am missing something.

Human or hollow for way of the blue (though they can only attack invaders, not enemies), human only for blue sentinel (which is really annoying) is probably where the confusion comes from.

Shaded ruins is probably a hot spot of invasion (I got invaded once there in hollow form) because of the lion warriors which are easy to aggro several at a time and hard to kill quickly, as well as the cursing jars which if you don't kill quickly will sap your max HP over and over. Not to mention the giant Baselisk.

Its somewhat patched on the PS3 version. As for the Xbox version, I posted this video I found awhile back so see for yourself. :lol:

Ha, that's hilarious, they don't even track at all, that's got to be an error.

 

[BrolyB593]

In regards to the staff/catalyst in the right/left hand and the confusion with the shield:

I run with my MLGS in my right hand as well as binoculars. Then in my left I have a staff, chime and flame.

I almost never use a shield in Dark Souls unless the situation absolutely warrants it so I never really got confused with the placement of the 'casting' button. I am thinking about my first playthrough of this one and the only real time I threw a shield on was during the Royal Rat Authority fight. I put on a great shield after dying countless times on that sucker. I tried him now after he was patched and was disappointed. The new character I was playing as had much less health and armor than the first character playthrough and yet I was able to get hit dead on and easily survive and heal. I hate when they make bosses easier. He was tough but not impossible and that is the essence of Dark Souls. End mini rant haha 

 

[Backlash]

I was pulled into another player's world when I went through the Door of Pharro for the first time, I was killed but since you die in grey phantom form there doesn't appear to be a penalty, you just go back to the spot you were summoned from. unless I am missing something.

Yeah there's really no downside for being a victim of the rat covenant, other than wasting estus or items fighting in someone else's world. It's kind of annoying but when you win you get a lockstone, which is nice. I was in Doors of Pharro two nights ago and got pulled into someone's world. He was waiting right behind the spawn spot and tried to backstab me but he swung a little too early so I was able to roll sideways and then beat the hell out of him. Felt great Usually when I get pulled I end up trying to fight the dogs and the mastadon warrior while the summoner throws lightning at me and I just die quickly.

 

[Backlash]

Right now I keep a shield and bow on the left hand, and a weapon and chime on the right (and I swap out the chime for a pyro flame in certain areas, or just add the pyro flame).

I was keeping a bow on my right hand, but since you have to hold it two-handed I realized I might as well keep it in the same hand as my shield; took a little getting used to swapping the buttons for zoom and fire but not too long.

I used to keep a secondary weapon in my right hand and I thought having three slots was great, but as I got bigger and better weapons the extra weight of equipping two weapons wasn't worth the convenience.

I don't really have any buffing spells I can use, so I'm not sure what I'll do once I get enough Faith or Int to use one.  (Actually I'm not planning on raising my Int any above 3, but I figure I can use all my simpleton's spice and the Int ring to cast Great Magic Weapon).

 

[guardian_owl]

the only real time I threw a shield on was during the Royal Rat Authority fight. I put on a great shield after dying countless times on that sucker. I tried him now after he was patched and was disappointed. The new character I was playing as had much less health and armor than the first character playthrough and yet I was able to get hit dead on and easily survive and heal. I hate when they make bosses easier. He was tough but not impossible and that is the essence of Dark Souls. End mini rant haha

I was getting wiped against Royal Rat authority pre-patch too until I finally started playing against my instincts. The instinct is to back away and get distance, but that is a trap since it will lunge forward and knock into you with a difficult to dodge attack that will probably knock you down even if you are blocking. The trick is to stay close and roll forward under it when it is about to attack. The messages recommend no lock-on, but I think lock on works better. As soon as you finish your roll, your view is flipped 180 so you are facing the same direction as the rat and you can chop at its back or front legs while still being able to circle strafe. Once I figured that out I killed him on that attempt.

Yeah there's really no downside for being a victim of the rat covenant, other than wasting estus or items fighting in someone else's world. It's kind of annoying but when you win you get a lockstone, which is nice. I was in Doors of Pharro two nights ago and got pulled into someone's world. He was waiting right behind the spawn spot and tried to backstab me but he swung a little too early so I was able to roll sideways and then beat the hell out of him. Felt great Usually when I get pulled I end up trying to fight the dogs and the mastadon warrior while the summoner throws lightning at me and I just die quickly.

Ya, mine was a caster standing next to the giant mastadon warrior in the center of the room so I pretty much had no shot.

My setup is witchtree Staff or pyro flame, binoculars, then shield in left hand (so it is only one click to move from binocs to shield when they charge after baiting an enemy with lightning spear) then for my right hand I like being able to quick flip so I only have a chime and my claymore. If I am able to farm a black witch staff I'll probably respec and bump up my Int to 20 so that I can use it on my left hand for sorcery and miracle buffs.

I find I am relying on pyro a LOT less than in Dark Souls since lightning spear is so good and fire seeds were handed out so slowly.

 

[Supplice]

I read conflicting info on the Interweb about that so I've been wearing it. It would be nice to use that slot for something else..

My confirmation came from my own experience from leveling up to rank 3 in the Way of the Blue (defeat 10 Red Phantoms) during the second week of the game. I didn't wear the covenant ring at all and used the delicate string to bring red phantoms in. Four blue sentinels were called into my game around when the invader was about to die.

I think they need to rethink the mechanics of PVP. While I understand situations invading someone and there already being 2 people the game should only allow 1 vs 1 and then add in a 2nd when the host player summons a phantom. If the invading player is invading a host with a friendly phantom the game should summon in 2 invaders at the same time. Make it fair on both sides...whatever, I hit rank 2 by farming the Samarai in the Iron Keeps Belfrey Sol area.

PvP is fine. If you want 1v1 and fairness, then duel in the arenas, because you won't find it invading. If your invading, you should be going in knowing that the host will have backup or be going for backup once you arrive.

I was pulled into another player's world when I went through the Door of Pharro for the first time, I was killed but since you die in grey phantom form there doesn't appear to be a penalty, you just go back to the spot you were summoned from. unless I am missing something.

The only penalty that you can get being summoned there is if the host uses corrosive urns or acid surge on you. The damage to your equipment stays. Now that I think about it, I find really stupid that corrosive urns received a nerf . I assume its from all the whiny people that got their equipment broken during the Rat areas.

Anyway, it reminds me of low level invading in Demon's Souls with scraping spear. Now those people had a right to complain when their equipment broke. :lol: I miss that spear. (

 

[BrolyB593]

Anyway, it reminds me of low level invading in Demon's Souls with scraping spear. Now those people had a right to complain when their equipment broke. :lol: I miss that spear. (

I HATED that spear hahah

 

[io]

My confirmation came from my own experience from leveling up to rank 3 in the Way of the Blue (defeat 10 Red Phantoms) during the second week of the game. I didn't wear the covenant ring at all and used the delicate string to bring red phantoms in. Four blue sentinels were called into my game around when the invader was about to die.

Well, alright then! I did remove it last night in favor of the +2 magic slot ring. I finally went back to the NPC that gives you Way of the Blue covenant - somehow I ranked up to level 2. I guess I have killed a few NPC red phantom invaders (in addition to a few real ones).

Then I took a trip down the hole in Majula (much easier with the ladders!). I didn't realize you could drop past the rat area completely and go right to the Gutter. So I guess there's no need for either rat area in NG+ or beyond, right?

First time down I fell through somewhere just before the bonfire and missed setting it. It reminded me of Demon's Souls - 45 minutes or so of game and far from the last bonfire (which was Majula). I explored most of the rest of the Gutter but got killed by an exploding hollow I didn't see coming.

 

[guardian_owl]

Then I took a trip down the hole in Majula (much easier with the ladders!). I didn't realize you could drop past the rat area completely and go right to the Gutter. So I guess there's no need for either rat area in NG+ or beyond, right?
First time down I fell through somewhere just before the bonfire and missed setting it. It reminded me of Demon's Souls - 45 minutes or so of game and far from the last bonfire (which was Majula). I explored most of the rest of the Gutter but got killed by an exploding hollow I didn't see coming.

I'm not sure it's possible to drop all the way down to the bottom to bypass the rats without a ladder. I remember the first time I dropped down there I got down to the rat area ledge and then couldn't see anywhere else to go that wouldn't result in death. If you want another cast of Great Heal (less needed now that they buffed the HP and defense on Lucatiel and Bernhart) there is one in the Grave of Saint's.

Now that I have access to Sacred Oath from the "totally not Garl Vinland" boss fight I might swap out my ring of faith for the Southern Ritual Band+1 too since Sacred Oath is such a slot hog (4 attunement slots). When I traded in the soul at Straid I noticed that he finally got that extra cast of great lightning spear for sale that I have been waiting for, it must unlock after you finish the Undead Crypt / get the King's ring. He also had another cast of sunlight blade. I missed the 3rd cast of GLS somewhere in the Undead Crypt, it must be in that damned bell-booby trapped room you drop into.

 

[BrolyB593]

I missed the 3rd cast of GLS somewhere in the Undead Crypt, it must be in that damned bell-booby trapped room you drop into.

That is by far one of the top 3 most frustrating places in this game I would say. Haha

 

[Backlash]

I'm not sure it's possible to drop all the way down to the bottom to bypass the rats without a ladder. I remember the first time I dropped down there I got down to the rat area ledge and then couldn't see anywhere else to go that wouldn't result in death. If you want another cast of Great Heal (less needed now that they buffed the HP and defense on Lucatiel and Bernhart) there is one in the Grave of Saint's.

Oh you definitely can. The first time I made it down the well without dying I ended up in the gutter instead of the grave of saints. Way later I went back and found the rat area and by then it was pretty easy. Just depends on which platforms you drop onto.

 

[io]

When I traded in the soul at Straid I noticed that he finally got that extra cast of great lightning spear for sale that I have been waiting for, it must unlock after you finish the Undead Crypt / get the King's ring. He also had another cast of sunlight blade. I missed the 3rd cast of GLS somewhere in the Undead Crypt, it must be in that damned bell-booby trapped room you drop into.

Yeah, it is definitely in there - need a lockstone to get it. I cleaned that up in NG right before I started NG+. It is pretty easy to get if you backtrack from the boss area once you pull the lever and can go the other way from the second bonfire. Then you can get rid of the statues that spawn the mages, and explore that area much more easily.

I was wondering when Straid sells GLS. I still have the 3 from NG but want a 4th. I'm using regular lightning spear for now in two of my extra slots (after equipping Southern Ritual +2). If I can get two more GLS I'll have 50 of those in addition to my 4 Sunlight Spears and a pyro or two for backup.

Oh you definitely can. The first time I made it down the well without dying I ended up in the gutter instead of the grave of saints. Way later I went back and found the rat area and by then it was pretty easy. Just depends on which platforms you drop onto.

Yeah, first time I went down there in NG without the ladders I ended up on the ledge where you climb the ladder to get to the stone door (which has Havel's stuff). That is where the bigger ladder takes you - from there you just walk off to the middle to land on the next platform, then down again to the Gutter entry. I don't know how I got down there in NG - obviously I missed the rat area and went too far. I died after that and when I went back down I did make it to Grave of Saints - way too early in NG for me. I had a hell of a time with the rat nest. That would have been way easier later in the game. Now, in NG+, I'm not even going to bother with it.

 

[guardian_owl]

That is by far one of the top 3 most frustrating places in this game I would say. Haha

It was like adding insult to injury, because just prior to dropping down I was invaded and killed by a player who spawned in front of the pit. So I had to go through again, kill the dual shield users, and then I dropped down and *ding ding ding*, butt rushed by ring wraiths in a dead end.

I was wondering when Straid sells GLS. I still have the 3 from NG but want a 4th. I'm using regular lightning spear for now in two of my extra slots (after equipping Southern Ritual +2). If I can get two more GLS I'll have 50 of those in addition to my 4 Sunlight Spears and a pyro or two for backup.

Hurry on through to the Black Gulch and get the forgotten key again to unlock the door in the Majula pit, then it's a LONG wait for anymore casts as you can't get the others until you unlock the Winter Shrine again.

 

[io]

I was looking on the Gamefaqs board and people were suggesting invading in the Crypt for maximal disruption to the host player - pure evil, that is .

Is anyone here using Santier's Spear? I just read up on that and it takes some work to get it, but it sounds interesting. You need to get it from a lockstone area in

Spoiler

Doors of Pharros

and then break it which somehow unlocks its full potential. Very odd.

 

[guardian_owl]

I was looking on the Gamefaqs board and people were suggesting invading in the Crypt for maximal disruption to the host player - pure evil, that is .

Is anyone here using Santier's Spear? I just read up on that and it takes some work to get it, but it sounds interesting. You need to get it from a lockstone area in

Spoiler

Doors of Pharros

and then break it which somehow unlocks its full potential. Very odd.

Ya, supposedly it's behind "the big door" but after looking at each one I couldn't figure out which one it was talking about so I'll have to come back to it later. It's a spear that part of it is encased in stone I guess. So I think it starts with more of a blunt moveset. Then burn it in acid or hit it against walls to break the stone by breaking the item to zero durability. The moveset changes, it's durability stays at zero, and it is now unbreakable.

 

[Kameleon]

Ya, supposedly it's behind "the big door" but after looking at each one I couldn't figure out which one it was talking about so I'll have to come back to it later. It's a spear that part of it is encased in stone I guess. So I think it starts with more of a blunt moveset. Then burn it in acid or hit it against walls to break the stone by breaking the item to zero durability. The moveset changes, it's durability stays at zero, and it is now unbreakable.

Huh, so that's what the point of that spear is. The damage for it looked unimpressive so I didn't pay it much mind.

As for how to "open" the door, you have to use a lockstone on the face in the water that is in front of it. It will only open the bottom part, but that is all you need to go in and get it. Careful though, there's a Mastodon behind the door (though it can't move if you only open that one section).

 

[Supplice]

Huh, so that's what the point of that spear is. The damage for it looked unimpressive so I didn't pay it much mind.

Have all your stats at least around 20 and infuse it with mundane. It will have some respectable damage.

Then burn it in acid or hit it against walls to break the stone by breaking the item to zero durability.

Surprisingly, acid does not affect weapons.

 

[Backlash]

I just recently got the Santier's Spear and broke it.  My INT is super-low so I made it Raw instead of Mundane.  Once you break it (do it on corpses, not walls, or it will take you forever to break it) the moveset is pretty awesome.  It doesn't do nearly as much damage as my +10 lightning Claymore that I usually use, but it's just so fun.  It acts like a halberd in one hand and a twin-blade in two hands, sort of.  Although it also has "spin to win" in two hands with the second R2 attack.

 

[guardian_owl]

Surprisingly, acid does not affect weapons.

Hmm, that doesn't make much sense considering acid affects rings. Must be a "gamey" compromise so that people melee users aren't left defenseless if a PVPer uses acid surge or corrosive urn.

Went back down into the Undead Crypt and got the 3rd GLS cast, I was surprised that the wraith spawning stones aren't rebuilt when you return to the area like all the other objects. Also farmed the witch up the ladder near the bonfire a couple of times on the way by and got the Black Witch's staff. It still works for casting buffs even if I don't meet the minimum 20 Int though I am not sure if there is any kind of penalty to spell length or cast time for that.

 

[Trakan]

Hmm, that doesn't make much sense considering acid affects rings. Must be a "gamey" compromise so that people melee users aren't left defenseless if a PVPer uses acid surge or corrosive urn.

Went back down into the Undead Crypt and got the 3rd GLS cast, I was surprised that the wraith spawning stones aren't rebuilt when you return to the area like all the other objects. Also farmed the witch up the ladder near the bonfire a couple of times on the way by and got the Black Witch's staff. It still works for casting buffs even if I don't meet the minimum 20 Int though I am not sure if there is any kind of penalty to spell length or cast time for that.

There's no penalty. There are a lot of people who dislike that.

Also, the Santier's Spear on a mundane build with 20 stats across the board is insanely good.

 

[guardian_owl]

Lame, the bonus physical AR from Sacred Oath is halved if you have more than one damage type infused on the weapon, 4 slots for +25 damage definitely isn't worth it. I'm better off equipping 2 sunlight blades and some barrier miracles.

 

[io]

Also, the Santier's Spear on a mundane build with 20 stats across the board is insanely good.

I'll have to pick that up tonight and try it out. I am into Drangleic Castle now on NG+ - just beat the twin Dragonriders last night. I had completely forgotten what the first boss in the castle was. I had to look it up on the computer just to be sure I wasn't missing a Benhardt summon spot. It had been so long since I fought them in NG :lol:.

 

[BrolyB593]

I'll have to pick that up tonight and try it out. I am into Drangleic Castle now on NG+ - just beat the twin Dragonriders last night. I had completely forgotten what the first boss in the castle was. I had to look it up on the computer just to be sure I wasn't missing a Benhardt summon spot. It had been so long since I fought them in NG :lol:.

I have fought them a bunch of times. With GLS it was really quick and easy to rack up Sunlight Tokens from that fight!

All this talk about Santier's Spear, I was curious and booted the game up a for a bit last night. I have already opened up that 'big door' and so I figured I had the weapon but never paid much attention to it. It is nowhere in my inventory however. Can you only get it in NG+ or am I just going crazy?

 

[guardian_owl]

Were you flipping through your inventory via the equipping screen or the inventory screen (which is divided into tabs)? According to the wiki I use it is lumped in with the halberds so if you were using the Inv screen, that would be why you didn't find it on the spear tab. You might also double check that you opened the right door and found the chest inside.

 

[BrolyB593]

Were you flipping through your inventory via the equipping screen or the inventory screen (which is divided into tabs)? According to the wiki I use it is lumped in with the halberds so if you were using the Inv screen, that would be why you didn't find it on the spear tab. You might also double check that you opened the right door and found the chest inside.

Definitely was thinking of the wrong big door

I assumed it was the one I had gone through but I just looked it up and I was definitely in the wrong spot hahah

 

[io]

All this talk about Santier's Spear, I was curious and booted the game up a for a bit last night. I have already opened up that 'big door' and so I figured I had the weapon but never paid much attention to it. It is nowhere in my inventory however. Can you only get it in NG+ or am I just going crazy?

I got it last night but I am in NG+. I actually forgot about it once I got it so I still need to break it in.

Definitely was thinking of the wrong big door

I assumed it was the one I had gone through but I just looked it up and I was definitely in the wrong spot hahah

Yeah, as you come in from the bonfire and face the big guy plus his rat/dog, the door you need to open is directly to the right of them. I realize you figured this out, but for others that might want it that is the easiest way to orient yourself. Of course you only use the lockstone on the face in the water, not to either side. I wonder if there are other hidden treasure lockstone areas in there? Or is everything else a trap setup?

After I got the spear, I went on to do more in Drangleic Castle. Me and Benhardt handled the Mirror Knight by ourselves since I couldn't find anyone to summon in the castle at all. I was able to help people, though it was slower than usual. I guess the combination of my soul memory and playing at 3-4am Pacific on a Tuesday night probably meant I wasn't going to connect much. My soul memory is at 8 million now. I've heard that once you hit the cap (12 or 15 mil) both coop opportunities and invasions increase dramatically. I also seemed to have less problem when I was at 5-6 mil. I guess I'm just in-between now.

How do you tell if the Mirror Knight summons is a human player or not? And how do you get summoned in to that fight? I sat there near his door waiting to get summoned by other people for a while and never got called by him, though I did get called by one other person to coop him. In that fight, the Mirror Knight never even summoned another player, NPC or human. That was strange. Maybe we killed him too quickly. But in my game (with just Benhardt there) he did have someone come out of his mirror who I immediately plinked with a couple of Great Lightning Spears to get rid of.

Despite the lack of coop opportunity last night, I did get invaded twice, with no help from the blue bros either. But much to my surprise, I dispatched both of them pretty easily. One was in he King's Passage (right before the Mirror Knight boss fog). Luckily I had just cleared out all the red-eye knights in there so it was just me and the invader. The second time was in Shrine of Amana near the second bonfire. I was out in the water near the ogre and new (and very tough) red phantom but ran back to the bonfire and met him there. It was kind of laggy because I hit him 3-4 times and his health bar never moved but all of a sudden I had won. So with my newfound confidence, I'm considering moving from Way of the Blue to the Blue Sentinels. Hell, in 10 or so invasions in NG+ I've only ever had a Blue Sentintel helper come in once anyway.

I have to say, though, that the improvement overall in getting rid of the laggy phantom backstabs is a huge plus for this game. I avoided nearly all PvP in DS and was conditioned to try to avoid it in this game because of all the times early on in DS when I'd get killed that way (backstabbed while facing the invader, backstabbed after just a second before the guy was 20 feet in front of me, etc). Now I can see people trying to roll past me to backstab and I just turn and whack them with my Defender Greatsword. So sweet...

I went on to the third bonfire and then farmed some Twinkling Titanite for a bit. I am now wearing the very fashionable Velstadt armor and leggings along with the King's Crown (which, in addition to being decent armor by itself, gives you +3 to Int and Faith). I have been using the Drakekeeper's Greatshield which has nice overall stats but I will probably move to Havel's once I can equip some more weight. My armor is fairly light, so I shouldn't have much problem using that. I wish the Pursuer's Greatshield had better stats because it looks pretty cool.

The red-eye knights in King's Passage drop Titanite Slabs like candy, so I have more than 10 now. I had been holding off leveling items (especially shields) to +10 but I don't see the point in holding back now!

 

[Supplice]

So with my newfound confidence, I'm considering moving from Way of the Blue to the Blue Sentinels. Hell, in 10 or so invasions in NG+ I've only ever had a Blue Sentintel helper come in once anyway.

That is because all the Blue Sentinels are too busy invading sinners. :lol:

 

[Dwarfman]

After I got the spear, I went on to do more in Drangleic Castle. Me and Benhardt handled the Mirror Knight by ourselves since I couldn't find anyone to summon in the castle at all. I was able to help people, though it was slower than usual. I guess the combination of my soul memory and playing at 3-4am Pacific on a Tuesday night probably meant I wasn't going to connect much. My soul memory is at 8 million now. I've heard that once you hit the cap (12 or 15 mil) both coop opportunities and invasions increase dramatically. I also seemed to have less problem when I was at 5-6 mil. I guess I'm just in-between now.

How do you tell if the Mirror Knight summons is a human player or not? And how do you get summoned in to that fight? I sat there near his door waiting to get summoned by other people for a while and never got called by him, though I did get called by one other person to coop him. In that fight, the Mirror Knight never even summoned another player, NPC or human. That was strange. Maybe we killed him too quickly. But in my game (with just Benhardt there) he did have someone come out of his mirror who I immediately plinked with a couple of Great Lightning Spears to get rid of.

With the Mirror Knight you know it is a human player because it says "Mirror Knight is summoning Xxxboxsucks1234" Typically they have some random name and it is easy to tell its a human player. When he summons a regular NPC I'm pretty sure it doesn't say anything.

15 million soul memory is the cap? Pretty sure I ended way over that and I didn't find ANY co-op help on a lot of the final stages I needed to finish. I know I had 14million when I first hit the Shrine of Winter on NG++ but still needed to get all 4 giant souls for it to finally open. I easily collected 1 million in NG++ but still nothing.

Oh well, finished up the last 2 trophies I needed tonight and got the platinum.

Ended up playing 107 hours and 59 minutes and ended off at Soul level 259.

Even though I'm now done for a while.. I don't know what to play next

 

[guardian_owl]

I wonder if there are other hidden treasure lockstone areas in there? Or is everything else a trap setup?

That's it, I think everything else is a trap. A tip I picked up when trying to find a video for its location. If you join the rat covenant and wear the rat ring the enemies in the Door of Pharros don't aggro you and you can't damage them, BUT it still does damage to your weapon if you attack them. It's a lot faster to break the stone spear that way than hacking at a wall for 30 minutes.

How do you tell if the Mirror Knight summons is a human player or not? And how do you get summoned in to that fight? I sat there near his door waiting to get summoned by other people for a while and never got called by him, though I did get called by one other person to coop him. In that fight, the Mirror Knight never even summoned another player, NPC or human. That was strange. Maybe we killed him too quickly. But in my game (with just Benhardt there) he did have someone come out of his mirror who I immediately plinked with a couple of Great Lightning Spears to get rid of.

Apparently if you drop the BloodBros red soapstone down in the passage before the Mirror Knight you have a chance to be summoned.

It doesn't say anything when an NPC is summoned as one was summoned during my fight with him.

 

[io]

15 million soul memory is the cap? Pretty sure I ended way over that and I didn't find ANY co-op help on a lot of the final stages I needed to finish. I know I had 14million when I first hit the Shrine of Winter on NG++ but still needed to get all 4 giant souls for it to finally open. I easily collected 1 million in NG++ but still nothing.

Oh well, finished up the last 2 trophies I needed tonight and got the platinum.

Ended up playing 107 hours and 59 minutes and ended off at Soul level 259.

Even though I'm now done for a while.. I don't know what to play next

Yeah, I'm pretty sure it is 15mil - then it is a free-for-all at any level above that. According to Gamefaqs people coop and invasion is much more common then. But it seems you experienced different - so we'll see if/when I get there. I also think you need 3 mil to open Shrine of Winter on NG++ though - it goes up an extra million each game.

Also, 107 hours is damn short for as far as you got. I'm at 170 hours and counting and still have to finish off NG+ and much of NG++. I did spend a long time cooping and trying to beat the Ancient Dragon and Vendrick though. I'm sure I easily spent 10+ hours just in the Dragon Shrine. In NG+ I will probably just blow through there to get the ashen heart or whatever it is, and I won't bother fighting Vendrick either.

It doesn't say anything when an NPC is summoned as one was summoned during my fight with him.

Ah, OK - then I got the NPC phantom both times I did it plus a couple times when I've cooped as well. I'll have to try some more coop tonight to see if a person ever spawns. Though last night this was one of the places I had a hard time getting called in to help at. I left my sign for 15-20 minutes and nothing at one point. Usually I don't have to wait more than a minute or two.

 

[Supplice]

That's it, I think everything else is a trap.

In Doors of Pharros, there is one lockstone on the second floor that opens a door on the first floor leading to one twinkling titanite and faintstone. There is another three section door that leads to a Hero soul with a Mastodon guarding it.

 

[io]

In Doors of Pharros, there is one lockstone on the second floor that opens a door on the first floor leading to one twinkling titanite and faintstone. There is another three section door that leads to a Hero soul with a Mastodon guarding it.

Dang, now you are going to make me have to go back since I want all the Twinkling I can find. Now I'm trying to level up the Penal Gauntlets (or whatever they are - they increase Pyro power). Then I'll have Havel's shield to upgrade once I get enough strength to equip it. I wish you could "unupgrade" stuff and get twinkling titanite back. I'd undo my Havel's armor and leggings since I'm using Velstadt's stuff now.

I played a little this evening so the kiddos could watch. I really hate that transition from bonfire 3 to 4 in Shrine of Amana and there were no summons helpers there so I went back to the optional Chariot fight. I figured the +2 Chloroanthy ring was worth it in any case. I fought my way there more easily than I thought. Interestingly enough, all the tough guys on the way are now red phantoms which actually made them easier to beat than on NG - even though I think there might have been an extra one. Since they were glowing red I could actually see them. I thought they just popped out of thin air before. I didn't realize they were standing up on pillars and various other things along the route. As red phantoms I could plink them using the binoculars.

Then when I got to the boss fog (and took care of the last phantom that was in NG) there was a single summon sign but it disappeared. So I laid mine down to help and got called immediately. That guy had a second helper too (WTF!?). We finished off the boss and then I had to wait like 10-15 minutes for a single sign to show up for my own game. I was just about to try to solo it when that one showed up. Me and the phantom made short work of the chariot boss, though I almost got ganked by a skeleton I didn't see coming. But the lack of summons during "primetime" was a little disappointing.

 

[Dwarfman]

Then when I got to the boss fog (and took care of the last phantom that was in NG) there was a single summon sign but it disappeared. So I laid mine down to help and got called immediately. That guy had a second helper too (WTF!?). We finished off the boss and then I had to wait like 10-15 minutes for a single sign to show up for my own game. I was just about to try to solo it when that one showed up. Me and the phantom made short work of the chariot boss, though I almost got ganked by a skeleton I didn't see coming. But the lack of summons during "primetime" was a little disappointing.

My theory with not having as many summons as before is that with the most recent patch and actually becoming human after a successful phantom boss assistance that more people are human and need phantoms vs being phantoms and offering up help for souls. Before the patch I'd often assist other players for souls and the chance to test out the boss fight and see how much damage was done, strategies etc. IMO I think being a phantom helper is really counter Dark Souls/Demon Souls logic, because really you have NO consequences if you die, lose, or anything. If you go in with souls, you come out with souls.

The chariot boss is almost harder with more people. In NG+ I helped someone to get my humanity back (Idk why I ended the game with over 70) and he had summoned 2 of us. You can only really fit 2 people in those little gaps, one of the other phantoms tried to wedge in but couldn't and got hit/killed (he didn't believe in VGR).

Even though you think 107 hours is fast, according to trophy guides it says 50+. Which I guess if I started a brand new character from scratch to try and platinum I could probably do it a lot quicker but 50+ hours going in blind would be impossible.

 

[guardian_owl]

Dang, now you are going to make me have to go back since I want all the Twinkling I can find. Now I'm trying to level up the Penal Gauntlets (or whatever they are - they increase Pyro power). Then I'll have Havel's shield to upgrade once I get enough strength to equip it. I wish you could "unupgrade" stuff and get twinkling titanite back. I'd undo my Havel's armor and leggings since I'm using Velstadt's stuff now.

The tedious way to get more twinkling is once you unlock unlimited prism stones at the cat (I think that's when you open the shrine of winter), purchase a stack of 99 of them and go insane trading them to the crows. One of the possible rewards for prism stone trades is a twinkling. If you don't get a twinkling you might get something else useful like one of the burrs, a lifegem, or a titanite shard which is pretty good for a 300 soul investment. It's like a nickle slot machine that talks too much.

Had purchased all the miracles and the ring from Licia so I decided to invade and kill her with the orb from the Undead Crypt. What she was wearing must have lightning defense. Halfway into the fight I started having flashbacks of Satsuki. I would get her down to half HP or so and I would run out of stamina. She would run away and cast heal and be back at near full HP. She also has some kind of weaker version of Wrath of God which she spams. It does little damage if blocking it with a shield, but knocked me down and depleted 800ish HP if it hit me directly. Chased her around trying to kill her for 4 minutes and was finally able to slowly whittle her down since I could slightly outdamage the amount she could heal.

Got the King Ring the night before so I started exploring Alda's Keep and was thoroughly trolled by the cursed lizards near the start. Dying to them knocks your max HP directly down to your minimum (50% for me). I also nearly misinterpreted all the NPC messages on the ground in front of "that" lever in Alda's Keep. I thought they were saying "pull back" as in grab the lever and step backward to pull it back, but they mean "pull back" as in turn around and go back.

 

[Backlash]

I really wish From had let you trade more than one stone at a time to the crows.  Trading in a stack of stones takes forever, and because of all the menus you go through to do it I've accidentally "used" a few instead of picking "Leave" due to hitting X too fast.  I can't imagine trying to trade a ton of prism stones.

 

[BrolyB593]

I really wish From had let you trade more than one stone at a time to the crows. Trading in a stack of stones takes forever, and because of all the menus you go through to do it I've accidentally "used" a few instead of picking "Leave" due to hitting X too fast. I can't imagine trying to trade a ton of prism stones.

Yeah the process is so extremely tedious.

Made sense in the last game because there was a bunch of random things to drop but now it is pretty standard. Maybe your first playthrough you have to do one at a time, but on NG+ at least we should have the option to batch unload them.

 

[Supplice]

I thought the same thing when I was unloading rat tails and sun medals to their respective covenants. Definitely needed a batch option there, because I didn't want to trade in those items every time I received them. 

I still buy prism stones for the old Demon's Souls ritual of placing one down on the spot where an invader died. Once, I just stuck around in the FotG Heide Knight area and that place was filled with disco lights once the Blues were coming in. It helps to have the "wretch" title on your sin status.    

 

[io]

My theory with not having as many summons as before is that with the most recent patch and actually becoming human after a successful phantom boss assistance that more people are human and need phantoms vs being phantoms and offering up help for souls. Before the patch I'd often assist other players for souls and the chance to test out the boss fight and see how much damage was done, strategies etc. IMO I think being a phantom helper is really counter Dark Souls/Demon Souls logic, because really you have NO consequences if you die, lose, or anything. If you go in with souls, you come out with souls.

Even though you think 107 hours is fast, according to trophy guides it says 50+. Which I guess if I started a brand new character from scratch to try and platinum I could probably do it a lot quicker but 50+ hours going in blind would be impossible.

You can still Phantom and Shade when you are fully human, though, to check out the strategies/etc. I was doing that last night. But yeah, I've been human so much more of this game than I was in NG that it is almost not necessary to help out just for that. And I also now have 60+ effigies after running out on Darklurker in NG. I would think the ability to turn human after helping would make it more likely people would help out, though, not less likely. Maybe that is a bigger thing for NG though vs. NG+.

I actually have to suicide so I can do a few things (the door in Shrine of Amana and talking to the guy in Aldia's Keep) before NG++. I thought I'd wait till I died but it isn't happening (Just finished the Aerie last night so it is on to the memories/final bosses).

And yeah, I could see maybe getting a platinum in 50 hours with a second character (or, more likely, if I ever decide to play it on the 360 or something). There's no way on the first run though, unless you just slavishly follow a guide - and even then, I would think it would take more time to get through. Maybe 50 hours for the NG portion, then 10-20 for the NG+ and NG++.

Whatever - I'm at 175 hours+ now .

The tedious way to get more twinkling is once you unlock unlimited prism stones at the cat (I think that's when you open the shrine of winter), purchase a stack of 99 of them and go insane trading them to the crows. One of the possible rewards for prism stone trades is a twinkling. If you don't get a twinkling you might get something else useful like one of the burrs, a lifegem, or a titanite shard which is pretty good for a 300 soul investment. It's like a nickle slot machine that talks too much.

Had purchased all the miracles and the ring from Licia so I decided to invade and kill her with the orb from the Undead Crypt. What she was wearing must have lightning defense. Halfway into the fight I started having flashbacks of Satsuki. I would get her down to half HP or so and I would run out of stamina. She would run away and cast heal and be back at near full HP. She also has some kind of weaker version of Wrath of God which she spams. It does little damage if blocking it with a shield, but knocked me down and depleted 800ish HP if it hit me directly. Chased her around trying to kill her for 4 minutes and was finally able to slowly whittle her down since I could slightly outdamage the amount she could heal.

Got the King Ring the night before so I started exploring Alda's Keep and was thoroughly trolled by the cursed lizards near the start. Dying to them knocks your max HP directly down to your minimum (50% for me). I also nearly misinterpreted all the NPC messages on the ground in front of "that" lever in Alda's Keep. I thought they were saying "pull back" as in grab the lever and step backward to pull it back, but they mean "pull back" as in turn around and go back.

I might try the stones - though after going through the Dragon area I'm back to having 20+ twinkling titanite. I didn't realize some things require more though. When I was leveling up my King's Crown and Velstadt's helm, it was just 1-1-2-2-3 I think for the full upgrade (so 9 total). Now that I can finally equip Havel's Greatshield (had to pump up my STR from 40 to 45 first) that is taking much more.

I think you can drop more than one and get more than one item at a time. I swear I did that early on in NG. You can't drop them as a stack, but I think you can keep dropping them without having to pick up the new item. Then you just pick up multiple new items. I'll try it with the prism stones I already have.

Of course you can also be a shade and get a smooth & silky stone, or kill the pigs in the Soldier's Camp which drop them frequently. I was surprised that being a shade and killing just 3 enemies fulfilled my duty and also now turns you human again. I don't think they should have it do that for being a shade.

As for Licia, I cast the silence spell (forget what it is called) and that made the fight a breeze. All she does then is try to hit you with her chime, which actually does decent damage. But I could block/avoid that pretty easily and wack her with my Greatsword with little trouble. I think I had to recast silence once and she did nail me with an AOE attack before I realized it had worn off. But that makes it pretty easy.

 

[Trakan]

I wish you could get twinkling from prism stones. (

http://darksouls2.wiki.fextralife.com/Dyna+and+Tillo#.U1mjlleMav8

 

[io]

I wish you could get twinkling from prism stones. (

http://darksouls2.wiki.fextralife.com/Dyna+and+Tillo#.U1mjlleMav8

I don't think that is 100% accurate as I'm pretty certain I got a twinkling titanite from a small smooth and silky stone and that is not listed there either. Maybe there is a tiny chance for a twinkling titanite from Prism stones as well.

I'll try it all out tonight with the stock I already have (as I have lots of all 3) and see what happens. I did get the Chaneller's Trident from one of my 2 "petrified somethings" so I finally figured out how that dance thing works. Once I get enough VIT to equip it as an extra thing I'll have to try doing the dance when we win in coop or when I defeat an invader .

 

[Supplice]

I don't think that is 100% accurate as I'm pretty certain I got a twinkling titanite from a small smooth and silky stone and that is not listed there either. Maybe there is a tiny chance for a twinkling titanite from Prism stones as well.

It merely gives you an idea of what you can receive depending on what you give. You can still receive everything trading in prism stones, but the chances are pretty low. I didn't expect to receive Old whip and a few petrified dragon bones trading in small smooth and silky stones.

 

[guardian_owl]

I did get the old whip, can't remember if it was from the small or the normal size smooth stones. Also got the white ring. Now I'm just missing the demon hammer and the channel's trident. When I get a victory over a boss in coop I binge drink my flask in celebration, you don't have to finish the drinking animation before you can drink again.

Damn you acid exploding hollows, now you're wrecking my **** . I was wondering when the DS staple of "massive amount of crystal lizards" was going to happen, they left it for near the end of the game I see. I much prefer guarded by powerful enemies than playing hide and go seek in a giant vertical space full of jumps like in Dark Souls 1.

 

[Backlash]

I'll try it all out tonight with the stock I already have (as I have lots of all 3) and see what happens. I did get the Chaneller's Trident from one of my 2 "petrified somethings" so I finally figured out how that dance thing works. Once I get enough VIT to equip it as an extra thing I'll have to try doing the dance when we win in coop or when I defeat an invader .

I was lucky enough to get the trident at the very beginning of the game since I took Petrified Something as my gift (well, not very beginning because I didn't know to trade it in at first). anyway, I often equip it and give the buff before a boss fight if I summon phantoms, and then unequip it. There's so much time after defeating a boss that you have time to quickly equip it and do the dance before you fade out when you're a phantom - I do that pretty often. No need to keep it equipped all the time.

 

[io]

I was lucky enough to get the trident at the very beginning of the game since I took Petrified Something as my gift (well, not very beginning because I didn't know to trade it in at first). anyway, I often equip it and give the buff before a boss fight if I summon phantoms, and then unequip it. There's so much time after defeating a boss that you have time to quickly equip it and do the dance before you fade out when you're a phantom - I do that pretty often. No need to keep it equipped all the time.

I am horribly slow at going through my inventory. It took me like 2 minutes to find the King's Ring to open the end boss door when I had 2 phantoms sitting there waiting for me .

Maybe if I put every other weapon in the box I might be able to do it faster. But I always feel like I need to have 1 of everything with me at all times. I have no idea why.

What is the buff that the Trident gives? I though it was just a happy dance.

By the way, I now have 2 of them. I wrote down what I got from all my various stones and I think trading 50+ items in I didn't get a single twinkling titanite. I'll post the list later. And yet I got like 3 more useless titanite slabs .

 

[Supplice]

What is the buff that the Trident gives? I though it was just a happy dance.

25% damage boost. Can buff nearby allies too.

 

[io]

25% damage boost. Can buff nearby allies too.

Nice - odd that I don't see many people using it before ccop fights then (only afterwards to dance). But then most bosses are easy as pie via coop anyway...

So the new patch fixes something with Shrine of Winter. What was the issue? I'd love not to have to do all 4 giant souls before getting to Wellager in NG++... As much as I love this game, I need to move on. Still, I find myself trying to collect all the armor/weapons I can even though I'll never use most of them. I guess I need to use an ascetic in Majula to get all the butterfly parts...

But yeah, it will feel strange to play another game. I'm thinking maybe FF X remaster? I never played the original.

 

[guardian_owl]

Some people couldn't open the shrine of winter even if they met either unlock requirement which is 1 million souls collected in that playthrough or all 4 boss souls, the patch fixed that. For each NG+ iteration the amount of souls needed to be collected in that playthrough goes up by 1 million. So if you can find a way that is faster to collect 3 million souls than getting the 4 boss souls then you can unlock the shrine of winter that way in NG++.

Got invaded by the King's gate bonfire with the 5 ruin sentinels, that's just evil. Thankfully I had cleared all but one, and it was the one with the Darklurker hole which the game puts a fog gate up in front of so you can't drop down so I was able to fight him undisturbed. I really wish you got something for successfully fighting off a player invader, maybe cracked red orbs for killing BloodBros, cracked blue orbs for killing blue invaders or tokens of fidelity/spite.

 

[Jodou]

Its mostly for PvP since anything below 20 will get you killed in one or two hits. Usually, its those low vgr-people that cry about things being OP.

Actually it's the lag backstabs that are OP. QQ

 

[guardian_owl]

There are a few aspects of the Ancient Dragon fight that are utter bullshit.

1.)Not only does the forward facing fire attack penetrate the boss fog, it penetrates the adjacent walls, and not a by a little bit, but like 70 feet. Often I put put my soul sign down at the beginning while I started clearing the drake keeper's for souls and item drops. So after being summoned, while I am switching out my item find gear for proper rings and armament, often the host would enter into the fog gate. On 3 separate occasions I was killed by the fire attack before I even had a chance to enter the chamber. Each time I moved further and further back to switch out my gear and each time it wasn't far enough.

2.)Invisible fat feet. The hind leg stomp attack is very powerful, a one hit kill but the game seems to think the foot is 3 times wider than its actual size. I have been completely clear (at least 5 feet) of the foot stomp several times in my own game and when cooping and it has still killed me. Behind the foot is safe, next to the foot is not.

The downward AoE fire attack wouldn't be so bad if it was easier to keep my bearings. If the light source is on the proper side I can see the shadow of the tail to know which direction to run, but if not and it starts turning it's pretty much guaranteed death if you run in any other direction. It would be more fair if the tail hung limp so that you could always orient yourself when the dragon is high overhead. It would also give you a target to hit after evading the AoE attack.

I was apparently wrong, adding NPC summons does add HP to the boss, at first I was summoning Melinda and Vengarl to serve as distractions but they are mostly useless for damage and add a lot more HP to the fight. Followed the recommendation of another wiki, position yourself just in front of one of the hind feet in the larger gap between the toes. From there the backward fire attack can't hit you, you just have to roll forward to avoid a hind leg stomp, and you are facing the direction you need to run when the dragon takes off to do the AoE attack. As soon as the AoE attack is over you need to run back in front of the hind leg immediately or the Dragon will likely do another AoE attack.