Demon\'s Souls: Love/Hate Addiction

Discussion in 'Gaming' started by hawk4x4, Feb 20, 2011.

  1. The standard Uchigatana does physical damage. Moon and Crescent Uchis do magic damage. You need to clear 2-2 before you can upgrade to the best types of gear. Give the Red Hot demon soul you get to Ed the Blacksmith in 2-1. You'll need to talk to him a few times before he asks for it.
     
  2. I decided to put some work into my Blueblood Sword/ Luck build. I was rusty from not playing this for awhile and died a few times. I managed to obtain the Blueblood Sword and was pleased to discover that every point I've put into Luck has raised the Blueblood Sword's attack by 4 points. The Blueblood Sword is the only weapon in the game to benefit from Luck, but it's by a lot. That's going to add up quickly. The trick with this build is to further buff it with Light Weapon, so I'll need to pump up Magic quite a bit. I think I can pull off a bit of a "Lucky Mage" thing if I get Magic to around 30. This build will be deadly by the time I'm finished with it.

    Tentative planned stats for my Blueblood/ Luck build (SL 120):

    VIT ~47
    INT 18
    END 32
    STR 18
    DEX 18
    MAG 30
    Faith 18
    Luck ~25
     
  3. OK, I finally put the effort in yesterday and got through 2-1 which was a pretty entertaining level.

    I am a bit undecided now as to whether to go for 1-2 or 2-2 seeing as beating 2-2 can unlock a load of stuff with Ed the Blacksmith. I think I am around Soul Level 18, should I be able to go for 2-2 first or should I get past 1-2 first?

    The spider boss was easy, I just stood in the tunnel and spammed it with Soul Arrow, couldn't even touch me.
     
  4. Grim:

    I think you'll find the 2-2 boss to be substantially more difficult than the 2-1 boss. Most beginners struggle with the 2-2 boss quite a bit. He poses the first major challenge in Demon's Souls. It might be a better idea to try to clear 1-2 first and maybe pick up some soul levels while you build up your skill level and upgrade your gear. I'd recommend taking the Purple Flame Shield or Heater Shield to the battle in 2-2.


    Also, a general note to everyone:

    It's a good idea to learn to hunt the crystal lizards for the rare ores they drop. Stealth helps. They have LIMITED SPAWNS (generally adds 1 spawn per lizard for each time you clear a level), and sometimes there's no other way to get the rare ores, especially Pure ores often needed for the full +5 (or +10 for certain upgrade paths). They are very quick, so sneak up on them and let them have it before they escape. They have a maddening tendency to run off cliffs when frightened.
     
  5. Um, how do I get those then?
     
  6. I spent hours hunting for those things. Was quite annoying. 2-1 was the best place to hunt them if I remember correctly.
     
  7. You can buy the Heater Shield. You can find the Purple Flame Shield in world 1, or the Red Eye Knight will occasionally drop it if you can kill it (be careful).

    The PFS is the superior shield of the two but has higher stats requirements. The Heater Shield is an alternative if you have a character who needs lighter armament, especially a mage. If you have a melee character who uses a shield, the PFS is probably going to be the best shield in the game for you the first time through. It stacks up reasonably well to the best shields in the game. There are a couple of heavy duty shields that may be a bit better, but they have high stat requirements. The Dark Silver Shield is arguably the best in the game for non-mages (it lowers magic power), but you won't be seeing that until much later.
     
  8. They are all over the place. Occasionally they are even in the boss' areas (4-3, 5-3, & 2-3 off the top of my head).

    There are a ton in 2-2, especially the famous "crystal lizard room."

    I've found the most potent way to hunt them is with a decked out DEX character with the Sticky Compound Long Bow, which is the bow of the gods if you have that type of build. For the melee approach, I sneak up with the Thief's Ring and hopefully am able to lock on the targeting and then go all out. Dragon weapons help early in the game because they tend to briefly stun with the flame damage.
     
  9. Thats the level. You go down that tunnel and down that ledge and there a few of them down there. Shame those pesky bugger run away though.
     
  10. I just looked it up, didn't go near the dragons first time through as it looked dangerous but found a trick to getting to the dead bodies so will give that a go tonight.

    Another go through 1-1 will help anyway as I can farm some souls on the way.

    What would you recommend as the best way to go as a Royal? I have been mixing it up but I see a lot of people tend to focus on one thing for example above you mentioned a DEX build.
     
  11. When the Dragon burns that bridge full of people you have to quickly run to the dragon nest and pick up the shield before the dragon gets back. It can be done.
     
  12. I start every build with a Royal. I have some of my stats from various builds earlier in this thread that can give you an idea of how I'd allocate stats.

    The reason that you want to specialize is that various types of branches of upgrades tend to load on one or two stats. Dragon weapons that just give flat fire damage instead are better earlier in the game, but as your stats rise, specialized weapons Ed will provide you with become much more powerful. If you press Square, you'll see how damage is boosted by grades. The higher the grade, the better obviously. For example, I think a fully upgraded Blessed weapon gets an "A" boost from the Faith stat and low "E" boosts for STR and DEX. I believe Crushing weapons are entirely boosted by an "S" STR grade. Each weapon tends to vary by base damage and stat boosts.
     
  13. Excellent observation. :p It is. It will probably kill you in 1 hit.

    By the way, it is possible to kill dragons. It just takes lots of arrows.
     
  14. O dear what a nuisance that Purple Flame Shield turned out to be..

    My first problem came just trying to get it. I think I already mentioned that I had finished 1-1 some time ago and so when I got back to the bridge I was surprised to find that the Dragon did not come to barbecue me. I ended up going all the way along the bridge to try to lure him out but no, he wasn't coming. I went to the area where the dragon sits and sure enough he was there waiting to flame me. I tried to hit him with my Soul Arrow but the range was not good enough so in the end I had to time my run after a flame and just managed to pick up the shield before he cooked me. This meant I had to run all the way back to get my souls but at least I had the shield.

    Then I went back to the nexus to look at the shield and what I needed to use it. Turns out I need a strength of 22 and mine was 14! Considering I was already Soul Level 20 and the next upgrade came at 2500 souls I knew this was going to be a pain. In the end I probably need around 31,000 souls to get from 14 to 22 which took me between 2 and 3 hours in 1-1. I came up with a route which missed the first half of the level but took me to the places with the biggest soul gains taking a small detour each time to kill the red eyed knight chap and his buddy which was worth around 2800 souls a time.

    As I left things last night I hadn't moved forward in the game at all but I had the PFS equipped and nothing was getting past it. Those 2-3 hours better have been worth the effort!
     
  15. Trust, that shield is a beast. I used it for the whole game until I got that silver shield from that boss in 5-3 or whatever it was.
     
  16. Situation update.

    Weapons:
    Dragon Long Sword +3
    Purple Flame Shield +6

    Levels completed:
    1-1 - Easy
    1-2 - Killed red dragon as had accidentally made WT black and some annoying enemies had turned up near the boss fog. Boss wasn't too bad, died 4 times before I worked him out
    2-1 - Easy, gave boss soul to Freke for fireball spell.
    2-2 - Went the long way through the levels before I realised there was a safe way down the shaft to the right. Thank god there is as that boss was a bit of a challenge and I probably died at least 7 times before I managed to trap him and soul arrow him to death. Gave soul to Ed
    2-3 - Not too bad but I found it was luck based, sometimes I would get hit when others I wouldn't. Finished it after maybe 11 attempts. Saved this soul for the witch as her spell seems better than Frekes.
    3-1 - The guards here gave me trouble at first as they can almost kill you in one hit. In the end I started using the fog spell and creaping up on them, still a little nervy at times but did the job. Saved Freke along the way. Killed the boss on my 3rd attempt, at first I tried magic but that didn't work so I went in with the sword. With the Dragon Long Sword +3 I managed to kill her in 2 ways of attacks so was a quick fight once I got it down. Gave boss soul to Freke for spell which came in handy on...
    4-1 - Easy enough really, the flying things were a bit of a pain but took them out with spells in the end. The boss is probably the easiest so far, took him down first time using the spell I got from the 3-1 boss soul simply casting and running back to fog on top floor. He hit me once before I worked that out and went down after no more than 10 hits.

    I haven't been invaded since PSN came back on but the messages lying around the place are very handy I have to say.

    Think I am around Soul Level 40 now and finding things a little easy, perhaps I did too much grinding? Should I stick with the Dragon Long Sword which is currently doing between 150-200 damage per hit or should I get a weapon from Ed with the souls I have? Picked up a lot of weapons on 4-1 but they all seem weaker than Dragon Long Sword +3. Only 2 more levels to go on this sword I think so once its at +5 it will be maxed out so should I start looking at something else now? Any suggestions onto what to try to get and upgrade?

    *Any boss souls I didn't mention giving away I have stored in the Nexus.
     
  17. I miss the Meat Cleaver!

    If it is easy for you, just wait until game+ and beyond.
     
  18. @Grim

    Dragon weapons are good for the first time through the game. They get flat fire damage instead of stat bonuses. If your character is low level and weak, stat bonuses don't help much. But if you have a high stat and level up a weapon to +5 that is boosted by that stat (especially an "A" or "S" rating), that weapon will easily outdamage Dragon weapons. I believe the Sticky Compound Long Bow +5 gets the highest stat boost in the game, a gigantic "S" boost from DEX. Thus, use Dragon weapons until your character is strong enough to benefit from stat bonuses.

    It's a good idea to start thinking about which attack stat you'd like to focus on raising down the road. The primary attack stats are: STR, DEX, MAG, and Faith. For a primarily melee character, I would recommend STR or Faith your first time through as your primary attack stat unless you find you use lots of spells (in which case you'd obviously consider Magic). DEX characters are awesome, but Sharp weapons are very hard to fully upgrade thanks to the Pure Bladestone ore being a ridiculously rare drop in 4-2 from tough enemies (only Black and Black Phantom Skeletons drop it, and that might take you hundreds of tries in Pure Black for 1 ore).

    As far as shields go, you probably only need to consider the Purple Flame Shield, Dark Silver Shield, and Adjudicator's Shield your first time through. Personally, I almost always have the Adjudicator's Shield equipped for the HP regen. I only block against weak enemies and roll to evade the rest.

    Keep in mind the *-1 levels you are talking about being too easy tend to be the easiest levels in the game. 4-2, 3-2 1-4, and 5-2 should provide some challenge for you. If you're really feeling fiesty, get Pure Black World Tendency and try out the Black Phantoms in 5-2. BP Selen will provide you with that challenge you crave. Or you could try Pure Black right at the beginning of 4-1; someone will waiting there to greet you right away.

    As for boss encounters, 3-2 and 1-4 (in that order, especially in NG+ and beyond) tend to be the toughest, but they are not as tough as the black phantoms. And the toughest enemies in the game are...elite human invaders. The most talented player controlled black phantoms can ruin your day. There are some REALLY good players online. A lot of the best players in Demon's Souls have already completed everything and go back to make PVP builds just to invade and fight other players. They cap their soul level between 80 and 120 to ensure they get lots of hosts to invade.

    By the way, are you usually in soul form or physical form? You can only be invaded while you are in physical form.


    The miracle you DO NOT want to pass on is Second Chance. It's one you definitely need to get.
     
  19. My ~SL 87 Luck/ Blueblood character hits around 512 damage per strike with the Blueblood Sword buffed with Light Weapon with the Insanity Catalyst. This is a medium sized sword you can swing very quickly. It is vicious, and I still have several soul levels to go. By the time I'm at SL 120, I bet one short combo kills most players. I plan to get MAG to around 30 by the time I'm finished, which will let me do a bit of casting as well.
     
  20. I am only playing the levels in soul form. After turning world 1 slightly black and having black phantoms show up I decided it was best to make sure I stayed at least neutral, although all of my WT's are now towards white apart from world 5 which I haven't started yet.

    I have been sharing souls between everything if I am honest. I think my highest stats are Strength 22 and Intelligence 23 (needed the MP). I should probably have something a lot higher but I keep needing other things such as more Item Burden and end up putting a level into Vitality etc.

    I have put some souls into Magic and Faith but nothing into Dexterity. I suppose now would be a good time to make a choice then and throw everything I now get into one category?

    Any particular weapon I might have or that I should look to get that you would suggest I also make an effort with now? I can easily farm a lot of the stones (other than some pures) so now might be a good time to start working on something? As I say I still have some of the boss demon soul's sitting in storage so anything from the ones I have I should make a point of getting from Ed?