[cruxdude]

Nope, I'm pretty sure the magic damage is applied when you whack something! Same with the Holy damage on my halberd. I sure hope so - otherwise there's no reason to move off the physical-based scaling. Magic damage from your spells is a completely separate thing as you are required to hold a staff/catalyst for that instead of the weapon anyway.

If you want a very minor spoiler about finding some magic spells early on I can let you know where to go.

Ohh ok. Thanks again for explaining. Ya do tell me where to go. I am fine with minor spoilers!

[io]

Ohh ok. Thanks again for explaining. Ya do tell me where to go. I am fine with minor spoilers!

Go to the Waypoint Ruins which are just to the right of the lake in the starting area.  Find the cellar entrance.

[Hypebeast69]

What’s the best katanas for bleed? I have uchigatanas and nagakiba right now. Wondering if I’ll be getting better ones to replace my uchigatana

[NeedleInTheHay]

Can someone give me tips to beat crucible knight? He’s the one boss I’ve really struggled with so far. I beat margit and godrick on my first try.

[io]

Can someone give me tips to beat crucible knight? He’s the one boss I’ve really struggled with so far. I beat margit and godrick on my first try.

I don't even know what that is so no I've got no tips.  If someone answers please spoiler tag it. I'm still exploring everywhere after Godrick and not finding any more of the main bosses.  I did beat two optional bosses last night that both gave trophies though - that was somewhat surprising.

 

I also found a dungeon with TWO bosses.  One was in a hidden pathway room that wasn't marked by any messages.  Maybe I was the first to find it?  (Doubt that, but still, I was surprised).

 

What’s the best katanas for bleed? I have uchigatanas and nagakiba right now. Wondering if I’ll be getting better ones to replace my uchigatana

Jodou might have some answers there.  I don't know of any others.

[Vigilante]

Can someone give me tips to beat crucible knight? He’s the one boss I’ve really struggled with so far. I beat margit and godrick on my first try.

When he switches to two-handed and slashes a few times, there's a brief 1-2 seconds after he stops and pulls his shield back out where you can get at least one hit in. At about the halfway-health mark, he gets some more moves that can catch you off-guard if you get greedy when hitting him, so stick to 1 hit at a time.

 

He took a few tries for me to beat, but if you take him on slow and steady without taking unnecessary risks trading blows, you should get him.

 

io, this boss is located almost directly south of the Stormhill Shack site of grace, at one of those portals surrounded by rock worms. There's a revival statue in the immediate vicinity, so it's incredibly easy to retrieve runes and try again if beaten.

[NeedleInTheHay]

I don't even know what that is so no I've got no tips.  If someone answers please spoiler tag it. I'm still exploring everywhere after Godrick and not finding any more of the main bosses.  I did beat two optional bosses last night that both gave trophies though - that was somewhat surprising.

 

I also found a dungeon with TWO bosses.  One was in a hidden pathway room that wasn't marked by any messages.  Maybe I was the first to find it?  (Doubt that, but still, I was surprised).

 

Jodou might have some answers there.  I don't know of any others.

I think we’re around the same, I beat godrick and went back to exploring, the next major boss is a surprise to me. Can you share the location of the dungeon with 2 bosses?

[gamegirlpocket]

I started last night and stayed up way too late. Played more before work and I'm thoroughly addicted.

 

Went with a Confessor for magic and wish I'd done the Astrologer instead. I finally got my Intelligence up high enough to equip some of the earliest staff/spells you can find and now exploring is ever-so-slightly less dangerous. 

 

Right now I'm in the underground area where

Spoiler

you take the elevator down for what feels like forever and find yourself under a purplish night sky. There's even a giant enemy crab straight from E3 2006. Will add the location name later, I can't risk turning it back on to look it up.

.

[Jodou]

What’s the best katanas for bleed? I have uchigatanas and nagakiba right now. Wondering if I’ll be getting better ones to replace my uchigatana

Nagakiba easily because it has longer reach and damage. You may want to consider Moonveil with an INT build as it is overall a better sword and offers more play variety with spells being optional still. Reason being you can unsheathe, stagger, crit, repeat. Certain talismans will allow you to infinite loop this since the critical refunds the cost of the unsheathe. Bosses are extremely vulnerable to this as well, so it can trivialize quite a few of them. Pretty slick.

[Echotech83]

Lol, I’m 16hrs in and I haven’t even bothered to go fight Margit yet. I’ve been bopping around the southern peninsula and took care of the boss behind the castle, only to find out I missed an NPC in the castle to complete a quest for the blind girl near the bridge to the peninsula. So I’ll probably try and complete that next just for completion’s sake. I don’t have diagnosed ADD, but with this game I totally do. I’ve mentally planned to go fight Margit the past few nights and every time I’m like oooh what’s over there? FYI there is a dragon church/temple on that little island near the starting point of the game. There is a cave on the beach that will take you there after you clear the cave of the mini boss. Happy hunting!

[Jodou]

Well, crap.  I assumed weapons stopped at +10 so that +8 Banished Halberd that I found was awesome.  Not quite as much as I thought if it goes all the way to 25.  Also, I'd love to buy stones but still don't have the bell bearing to do so from the twin merchants. At what point (or what area) can you find that greatsword?  I remember using that in other Souls games so I'd like to keep an eye out for that. Do all the special items use the somber stones?  There aren't a ton of different stones like in the Souls game I hope?  I mean, if there are I haven't even seen them yet.

Yeah, special items only use somber up to +10 and they're done, trophy complete. The stones are all the same except their 'level' and the final one needed for +10 is unique, but still of the somber variety. And Dark Moon Greatsword is an entire thing this time, so you'll need a guide 100%. Requires way too many easily missed interactions due to when, where, and even time of day. Easily spent 5-10 hours acquiring it alone.

 

I finally figured out how to get the stone I needed for my sword, as I was looking for a location instead of how to get into the actual area. Once I figured that out, it was easy finding a guide heh. Got in, got my items, and got out. Now I'm just trying to 100% the map to see everything before pushing NG+, which is probably stupid since I'll lose all that progress in areas but eh. I did find one talisman I didn't know existed and is the equivalent of Havel's Ring, so now I'm having to consider a respec since I was already using a lower-powered version to just keep me at medium weight.

 

Still shocking how much I missed and is easily missed even when you know where you want to get to. So many gate checks or places that are a pain to get to without a guide. . .

[io]

io, this boss is located almost directly south of the Stormhill Shack site of grace, at one of those portals surrounded by rock worms. There's a revival statue in the immediate vicinity, so it's incredibly easy to retrieve runes and try again if beaten.

Oh, an overworld boss.  I was thinking this was a main story one.  I'll have to look for that - sounds like something else I might have missed in that area.  I've been marking the portals to go back and do them (I've only done one so far), and I thought I had been to that one, but I'll check.

 

I think we’re around the same, I beat godrick and went back to exploring, the next major boss is a surprise to me. Can you share the location of the dungeon with 2 bosses?

I'd have to be on to see for sure, but I think it's in an upper cliff area of Raya Lucaria (where you go after Godrick).  Up above all the

Spoiler

big walking shrine monsters

.  One boss is the normal one you get to by opening a door with a lever.  But there's another mist entry you can find.  I can tell you how to get there once you find it.  Just note that there's one room where you can plainly see a ledge and hallway above you but it doesn't look like you can get there.  I figured I'd get up there from the other side after exploring further, but, no, you have to get there from the room you see and it is pretty easy, just not obvious.  I left a note for it but there were none there telling me what to do otherwise.  Then after that there is a hidden path wall.  so even if some people got up there they might have just thought it was a dead end room with an item, but it keeps going.  Note that you do have to go up there to open the lever for the first boss (you drop from there to where the lever is).  So I'm sure a lot of people thought that was all they had to do up there.  Very sneaky From.  Also note that my Sacred Blade power-up on my Halberd was critical in this dungeon.  There are super-skeletons in here that don't die even when you hit their glowing orbs on the ground.  You have to kill them with Holy damage, and the base holy damage from the weapon doesn't count - I had to L2 to get Sacred Blade going (the shot from that kills them plus the weapon glows for several seconds and if you hit stuff with that it also kills them).  One of the two bosses (I think the main one) has support skeletons with the same thing. The second hidden boss was fairly easy.

 

 

Right now I'm in the underground area where

Spoiler

you take the elevator down for what feels like forever and find yourself under a purplish night sky. There's even a giant enemy crab straight from E3 2006. Will add the location name later, I can't risk turning it back on to look it up.

.

Ah, yes, I think you are in the area with one of the optional trophy bosses (that I just beat the other night). Sofria Well I think?

 

Nagakiba easily because it has longer reach and damage. You may want to consider Moonveil with an INT build as it is overall a better sword and offers more play variety with spells being optional still. Reason being you can unsheathe, stagger, crit, repeat. Certain talismans will allow you to infinite loop this since the critical refunds the cost of the unsheathe. Bosses are extremely vulnerable to this as well, so it can trivialize quite a few of them. Pretty slick.

Moonveil is from the magma lizard boss in one of the mine dungeons, right?  I *almost* had that bastard beat the other day but dodge rolled into his magma when he was at 10% health.  One more health flask and I was set to beat him.  Didn't get nearly that close on many other runs.  I figured I'd tackle it when I power up a bit more.

 

Yeah, special items only use somber up to +10 and they're done, trophy complete. The stones are all the same except their 'level' and the final one needed for +10 is unique, but still of the somber variety. And Dark Moon Greatsword is an entire thing this time, so you'll need a guide 100%. Requires way too many easily missed interactions due to when, where, and even time of day. Easily spent 5-10 hours acquiring it alone.

 

I finally figured out how to get the stone I needed for my sword, as I was looking for a location instead of how to get into the actual area. Once I figured that out, it was easy finding a guide heh. Got in, got my items, and got out. Now I'm just trying to 100% the map to see everything before pushing NG+, which is probably stupid since I'll lose all that progress in areas but eh. I did find one talisman I didn't know existed and is the equivalent of Havel's Ring, so now I'm having to consider a respec since I was already using a lower-powered version to just keep me at medium weight.

 

Still shocking how much I missed and is easily missed even when you know where you want to get to. So many gate checks or places that are a pain to get to without a guide. . .

Well, damn, not sure I want to go through all that for the sword.  Is it one of the legendary ones for the trophy though?

 

As for the Havel's ring item. I found an equip load talsiman last night.  That's in addition to the one you told me about earlier that boosts HP, equip weight and something else.  This one does equip weight only and I think added 6 or 7 lbs?  Is that the lower-powered version?

 

I discovered a new enemy type sitting outside that cave with 2 bosses. It's a golden knight that guards the entrance (so NeedleInTheHay you will know you are in the right place from that).  One time when I killed it I got some gauntlets that are way better than anything I already had, but at the same weight as my other "heavy" armor.  Every stat was better.  I'd like to farm the whole set but I'd need to increase my equip load to wear it all.
 

[io]

Jodou, have you figured out what the paintings are for?  I keep finding more.

 

So last night I went into the

Spoiler

Carian study hall tower.  Man, that mage in there is a f!*%ing bastard.  I died so many times trying to take out his teleporting ass. I finally just ran past him and got the items up on the rafters.  Up there were notes saying to use a projectile weapon on the suspended stairs.  It did nothing.  I'm guessing I probably have to kill the mage first.  Like so many other things, I'll head back there later .

.

[io]

Jodou, my son just told me the person who hugs you permanently takes away 5% of your health each time!? Is that remotely true?  I've done that like 4 or 5 times trying to see what she's even there for and so far there's been no interesting dialog.  Maybe it's just the first time (hopefully)?

[Echotech83]

Jodou, my son just told me the person who hugs you permanently takes away 5% of your health each time!? Is that remotely true?  I've done that like 4 or 5 times trying to see what she's even there for and so far there's been no interesting dialog.  Maybe it's just the first time (hopefully)?

Partially true. You do lose 5% HP but it’s not permanent. As long as you use the item she gives you (can’t remember the name) you will regain the 5%. The item she gives temporarily boosts your poise which is useful to stay on your feet during boss fights.

[io]

Partially true. You do lose 5% HP but it’s not permanent. As long as you use the item she gives you (can’t remember the name) you will regain the 5%. The item she gives temporarily boosts your poise which is useful to stay on your feet during boss fights.

I wasn't even aware there was an item that she gave me .  What's it called?

[Echotech83]

I wasn't even aware there was an item that she gave me .  What's it called?

Baldachin’s Blessing, either use it or remove it to get the 5% back. You’ll notice a red square with a down arrow below your HP bar when the “blessing” is In your inventory. Even hugs hurt in a fromsoftware game.

[io]

Baldachin’s Blessing, either use it or remove it to get the 5% back. You’ll notice a red square with a down arrow below your HP bar when the “blessing” is In your inventory. Even hugs hurt in a fromsoftware game.

I noticed the other day I had like 5 things going on there - wasn't sure what they were though I think one was the HP regen from the talisman.  So, great, I've been playing with a 5% health handicap the entire time!

 

Yeah and what she tells me each time I go back there is that the blessing is still active or something - so I thought it was an always-active type buff.  Didn't realize I had to use it.  She'll continue to hug me anyway .

[Vigilante]

I think I found the 2-boss catacombs with the "super skeletons" that won't die the normal way, but it turns out you can just kill the "summoner" who's usually nearby holding a torch of sorts and all of the skeletons immediately die also.

[gamegirlpocket]

io - yeah it was the Sofria Well. I was doing just fine, but there are some ghostly orc archers which are like snipers and my Confessor is far too mortal for them. I'll come back once I'm more durable.

[io]

I think I found the 2-boss catacombs with the "super skeletons" that won't die the normal way, but it turns out you can just kill the "summoner" who's usually nearby holding a torch of sorts and all of the skeletons immediately die also.

I don't think the one I'm talking about has summoners  Every enemy was a skeleton. The very first one by the site of grace you can kill it's orb but the later ones have black orb things that you can't.  But you can kill them outright at first with a Holy damage L2 attack.  It is Black Knife Catacombs.

 

Edit: I looked this up in the Wiki and you are right.  I never thought those were necromancers summoning the skeletons.  I just though they were different skeletons using magic attacks - I thought they didn't die either when I killed them normally but it may have just been because there were other skeletons around attacking me.  Regardless, the Holy Damage L2 attacks do permanently take out the summons which is a little easier than getting past them to get to the necromancers.

 

io - yeah it was the Sofria Well. I was doing just fine, but there are some ghostly orc archers which are like snipers and my Confessor is far too mortal for them. I'll come back once I'm more durable.

YES, those guys are a pain in the ass.  And they will snipe you from far away too. I enjoyed going back in there the other night and slaughtering them just for revenge .  There is a flask upgrade thing in the far back left of the area though, where it is surprisingly safe.  You can ride to that if you just book it - look for a stone bridge leading over a chasm.  Once over there nothing will attack you.  Plus there is a merchant up the ladder area in the middle that has some good stuff.  You have to get past two of the ghost minotaur (or orc) guys though.
 

So last night I finally found the key to the second area castle place.  You get an item that shows you where it is - I just kept getting distracted.  I'm amazed how big that second area is.  I keep opening up more parts of the map  - it's crazy!  Then I went into what I assume will lead me to a boss eventually.  But once again I got distracted and went off the main path and made my way down a rotating elevator thing.  Down there is a scary machine that chases after you with twin rotary saw blades.  Spoilers for what can happen down there:

 

Spoiler

I actually almost killed it but one time it grabbed me and shoved me inside its meat grinder chest.  Much to my surprise that teleported me to what I think is a late game area.  It just seems to be a small portion of that area gated off from the rest though.  Within that area you finally get to a boss version of the same machine, but there's *two* of them this time.  I was actually able to get them down to half health but I gave up after a few tries.  Anyway, this game continues to surprise me .

[io]

Some people on metacritic are trying to review bomb this game saying it has bad graphics.  I understand how in some ways the engine is dated, but, man, it looks pretty incredible to me:

 

[io]

Also, I finally got the bell bearing for smithing stones and can now buy level 1 and 2 stones from the merchant in the Roundtable Hold.  So now I can upgrade anything remotely interesting at least a couple levels (I think to +3?).

 

It isn't from an invading knight like the other one I got (for bones).  It was a mine boss in the Lakes area - a pretty easy one too.

 

Jodou, do you eventually get the ability to buy low level somber smithing stones or any more higher level regular ones?  I only had 10 level 1 somber stones and accidentally used one on something last night (I wasn't paying attention that it was somber and not regular).  Would be nice to know if there's a lot more available or not.

[cruxdude]

Is there any way to turn off invasions without losing the messages. I love reading the messages but was surprised by an invader. Luckily defeated him but do not want to face more of that.

[io]

Is there any way to turn off invasions without losing the messages. I love reading the messages but was surprised by an invader. Luckily defeated him but do not want to face more of that.

You shouldn't be invaded unless you have a friendly summons with you.  It isn't like the previous games where you can get invaded at any time online or unless you go into half-health mode.

 

There are a lot of NPC invaders that get to you at different points though.  Maybe it was one of them?

 

However there is one spot up near the flame worshipper ruins place in the Lakes area (where madness will build up on you until you take out the guys in a tower) where I got invaded.  I almost beat him, but lost.  I assumed it was an NPC and went back to the same spot and no invader.  Now I realize I think it said something like "furled finger" invader, which I think means it was a real person.  I wasn't doing coop - hadn't used an item or anything.  So that was odd unless it was a glitch or there are certain places you can be invaded regardless.  I hung out in the same area for a while afterwards though and it never happened again.  If I had known it was a real person I would have been a little more careful and tried harder .

 

But, I mean, other than that one possible exception, I haven't seen a real person invader in my 60+ hours yet.  I see the red summons signs that you can use to call an invader.  And one time when I was helping someone, that host got invaded.  Unfortunately I was in a different room and didn't get to fight him before the host beat him.  But even when doing coop with people it seems rare to have invaders.

[cruxdude]

You shouldn't be invaded unless you have a friendly summons with you.  It isn't like the previous games where you can get invaded at any time online or unless you go into half-health mode.

 

There are a lot of NPC invaders that get to you at different points though.  Maybe it was one of them?

 

However there is one spot up near the flame worshipper ruins place in the Lakes area (where madness will build up on you until you take out the guys in a tower) where I got invaded.  I almost beat him, but lost.  I assumed it was an NPC and went back to the same spot and no invader.  Now I realize I think it said something like "furled finger" invader, which I think means it was a real person.  I wasn't doing coop - hadn't used an item or anything.  So that was odd unless it was a glitch or there are certain places you can be invaded regardless.  I hung out in the same area for a while afterwards though and it never happened again.  If I had known it was a real person I would have been a little more careful and tried harder .

 

But, I mean, other than that one possible exception, I haven't seen a real person invader in my 60+ hours yet.  I see the red summons signs that you can use to call an invader.  And one time when I was helping someone, that host got invaded.  Unfortunately I was in a different room and didn't get to fight him before the host beat him.  But even when doing coop with people it seems rare to have invaders.

Ohh this was in the northern part of Stormhill region near that arena kind of structure. I don't play co-op and this guy was in red. But he never seemed to regenerate his health. So maybe it was an NPC invasion!

 

BTW I just defeated Margit the fell omen. I did summon the Godrik soldiers and they were really useful in diverting his attention

 

I was thinking I would complete all the other mini dungeons in this area before going here but randomly ended up in this fight!

[io]

I've had a lot of NPC invaders - probably 4 or 5 by now?  There are some that will spawn at night in certain locations too.

[Hypebeast69]

Nagakiba easily because it has longer reach and damage. You may want to consider Moonveil with an INT build as it is overall a better sword and offers more play variety with spells being optional still. Reason being you can unsheathe, stagger, crit, repeat. Certain talismans will allow you to infinite loop this since the critical refunds the cost of the unsheathe. Bosses are extremely vulnerable to this as well, so it can trivialize quite a few of them. Pretty slick.

Yeah I heard moonviel is pretty good I’m just a pure dexterity rn and wanna keep that dual wield with both swords being long af. I can’t wait to get the hand of malenia or whatever it’s called to see if it’s good with my nagakiba.

[Hypebeast69]

Anyone know btw if you can actually get the warrior starting class armor from a merchant or something or only by starting the game with that class? Also for Hero class? I guess Prophet too, I kinda want em all lol. I know a merchant sells Prisoner and Samurai sets tho

[Z-Saber]

I've seen the Confessor starting set available, though I wouldn't recognize the one you're asking about even if I've seen it already, but I think probably all of them can be gotten somewhere.