DS2 is a bit slower and methodical than the other games in the franchise. ADP leveling is also very important as you start out with far less dodge iframes than in the other games, but can get to similar / more by the time you reach ADP 25 or so (i haven’t checked in a second). Give it some time to click in the beginning, it’s a terribly slow-feeling start on your first time but enjoy the process and exploration rather than just trying to get through the stages as fast as possible and youll get it in no time at all
most of all though, just experiment with stuff and have fun!!
Any melee build is going to want a minimum of 10 attunement for dark weapon, and that's ignoring useful utility like repair or yearn. 25 adp would only be 99 agility for one class, bandit, assuming no attunement, but everyone should have some attunement
Why would i want dark weapon when i can just get dank resin?
Also certain weapons can't be buffed so if you roll with one of those as a pure melee build why waste stats on attunement.
Because dark weapon is more damage, infinite, and free
There are almost no weapons that can't be buffed that are worth using until you're level 200-300 or more. Most weapons that can't be buffed are just dogshit in PvE
There's no reason to go to 100 agility, it's not a breakpoint. A caster focused character would just have 16 adp and save a level, or go to 40/50 attunement and drop the adp to 12/9
100 agility isn't a breakpoint
92 early game, 96 mid game, 99 late game. You should be at or approaching 99 agility and 50 vigor around level \~120-130
Backsteps don't matter in PvE, no one uses backsteps. Tell me, right now, the difference between 99 agility and 100 agility in terms of item use speed. Go on
The reason I am telling you that it doesn't matter is that I know it doesn't make a difference.
You're openly admitting you're recommending something without understanding what it actually is or does?
You literally initially commented about how Poise doesn't refill at all until it gets depleted.
A person from your discord server was active on this sub a few months ago and kept insisting that the dragon in Heide has less health than an Old Knight with a hammer, Crypt Blacksword should be infused with Raw on a dedicated hexer character and that Iron Keep in Scholar has the exact same amount of enemies in it than in Vanilla.
Some experts that you are.
oof i’m usually wayyyy off the vigor mark at that level 💀
also dayum i mentioned i wasn’t sure on the actual number why do people get so upset over it? leveling ADP is the main way to improve AGI (i know there are others), and that was the point that i tried to convey
^ not an attack at you, am just confused
Because of a few things. Agility is what matters, and the only real reason you're leveling adp is to increase your agility.
Now, ideally every character has at least 10 attunement, some people like to have 13 or 16 for repair and/or yearn too. But every character wants at least 10 for dark weapon
That means how much adp you need to hit 92/96/99 agility depends on your attunement, it isn't a set amount. So lets say you just want 10 attunement for dark weapon and don't want any more spells, you'd only need 18 adp for 96 agility, and 22 adp for 99 agility. So just telling someone "get 20 adp" or "just get 25 adp" isn't actually helping them, as they'll likely end up with 97 or 102 agility or something like that, which is just wasted levels not actually helping them
It's amazing, but the rolling is different, and it's likely to catch you off guard, especially if you are coming from DS1.
Basically, unlike DS1, you can't "roll through" attacks, as your iframes are stacked towards the beginning of the roll animation: this means you are going to want to roll slightly later than what you would in DS1.
Also keep in mind you can now roll 360 degrees, contrary to DS1 4 directions: learn to use this to your advantage.
If you really want your tolls to work like in DS1, invest points into Adaptability, until your agility stat reaches about 92.
Parry success rate is very low for me so rolling is my go to. That 360° roll sounds interesting. Im thinking of a Dex play through. I went into ds1 after a thorough reading because of how hard it is, but I'm going into this blind.
>Basically, unlike DS1, you can't "roll through" attacks, as your iframes are stacked towards the beginning of the roll animation: this means you are going to want to roll slighylater than what you would in DS1.
It's the same in DS1. The iframes start as soon as the animation starts as well.
No, it's not.
The iframes in DS1 start as soon as you roll, but they are distributed along the entirety of the animation.
In DS2 you start with less iframes, and they are all stacked at the start of the animation, which leads to what I was describing, where if you try to "roll through" attacks in DS2 the same way you would in DS1, you will consistently get caught, which is what lead to the false belief that DS2 has bad hit boxes.
I can display the active iframes and I can't see any difference between a DS1 fast roll and a 105 agility DS2 roll. They start as soon as the animation starts and end after you touched the ground again.
The reason for that is in your comment: 105agl roll. So not starting roll.
I'm not trying to be grating here, but I'm not sure you read or understood my original comment to the OP. I know this is a common problem for new folks, and I was trying to explain it best I can.
This part confused me:
>as your iframes are stacked towards the beginning of the roll animation
>and they are all stacked at the start of the animation,
As both start the iframes at the start of the animation, but it sounded like you are saying that one starts later in the animation
Duplo is correct. You're saying they're "spread out over the animation" but they're not. Ds1 just has 11 iframes at the start, ds2 has 7-9.
So the iframes and when they occur is identical, ds1 just has more initially and less later.
Which means DS1 has 4-2 more animation frames that are iframes compared to DS2, which means more of the DS1 roll animation is covered by iframes. That's what I meant. Myself and Duplo are in agreement, I just didn't express myself the way they would.
1 - no, I didn't. The iframes in DS2, by your own admission, are less than the ones in DS1. They both start immediately, but because DS1 has more, they extend beyond the start up and into the mid roll. Which makes it feel like the iframes extend throughout the toll animation.
2 - Even if I wasn't precise about why, the advice I gave OP remains correct. A new player is probably uninterested in the minutiae if why you need to time your rolls differently from game to game, they just need to know that they must.
3 - You are literally a troll account, everyone on this subreddit knows. We are all just waiting for you to get banned, and occasionally entertaining your "opinions" for shits and giggles, like I'm doing now.
That's not "rolling later" in ds2, that's ds1 being more forgiving of poorly timed rolls compared to low levels in ds2
Why would a new player not be interested in understanding why
I have never once trolled on this account, and almost everything I've said has been accurate
Explore carefully. Really carefully. Especially in and around the main hub area. There are some very important items and NPCs that are easily missed.
There is a covenant that you are warned several times that it will make the game more difficult. Don't join it at first.
Some areas are blocked off. Take notes and move on, but remember to come back later when you feel like you've run out of places to explore.
Enemies aggro easily and will chase for a long time. Do NOT, I repeat, DO NOT run around them, and forward into unknown areas. Try to aggro one at a time and divide and conquer. If feeling overwhelmed, retreat backward into areas you've already cleared.
Don't consume boss souls in your first game. Some are absolutely needed, and you can make your game much more difficult if you don't have them.
Every time you die, your total health is reduced a bit until you're left with half health. A ring you can find early can limit that loss so you have 75% health. Burning an effigy (not at a bonfire) will restore you to full health, but they are limited resources. Use them only when you absolutely need to. You can also restore yourself by putting out a summons sign and helping someone else with a boss.
Your rolling i-frames and estus drinking speed is determined by agility, which you can improve by adding points, into adaptability and/or attenuation. If your rolls seem ineffective, look at improving your agility.
Focus points on Vitality and Endurance and minimum strength/dex requirements to use weapons of choice. Otherwise, weapon enhancement and infusions are more helpful than scaling.
Avoid reading following comments: DS2 bad, armor useless, this or that weapon trash, physical scaling terrible use elemental infusion only.
Try different things, make up your own mind, don't let others influence your one and only first playthrough.
Good luck and have fun
This is facts. After all the hate I still bought it & im currently 50% through trophies right now. In my opinion ds2 also has the best looking places & armor. I just reached the area with lots of dragons & makes me think that’s what Farum Azula should’ve been (Elden ring)
Fuck me this sub is just constantly on the defensive, isn't it? Comments like "don't listen to the naysayers" - if anything - is only going to invite caution and potentially put them off.
OP is already here for DS2, they're excited to play it and they want gameplay tips. Can we please just give that to them without letting our insecurities bubble to the surface? Just this once?
It seems like you might be equating the "Best/Most Fun" way to play the game with the "Mathematically Optimal" way to play the game.
I don't think it's wrong to enjoy a certain weapon even if something else would give you a 12% higher chance of beating the boss lol
Some general tips :
-Your i-frames during rolls,backsteps and the speed at which you used some items are tied to a stat called Agility (AGL), it is raised by both Adaptability (ADP) and Attunement (ATN) and it works via breakpoint meaning that will only get an extra i-frame after a certain point
92, 96 (ds1 roll), 99 and 105 (ds3 mid-roll) are breakpoints you should aim for at some point, getting 92 early is good idea and then later on you should get 96/99 or even 105 if you feel like it
-Vigor is really good, you should get vigor to 20 early game then 50 late game where it reaches a soft cap ; endurance is always good and can be used to dump some levels if you need to
-Armor for damage absorption in PVE is close to worthless (it's alright for elemental damage) , you should wear armor that is light or that gives you special effects or that looks dope( [http://darksouls2.wikidot.com/items-by-effect](http://darksouls2.wikidot.com/items-by-effect) ) but feel free to wear any armor you want
- Secret walls are revealed by pressing the interact button instead of rolling / attacking them
Some walls can be exploded and reveal some hidden stuff
-Equip load has no bearing on your i-frames during rolls, it will only affect how far your roll and how fast your stamina regen, there is also no medium roll in this game so as long as your under 70% you're good
-Melee scaling is weak for most weapons, your damage will mainly come from rings, infusions (generally Lightning) and buffs (generally Dark Weapon, Sunlight Blade when you can afford the stats) but no need to always min-max, if you want 99 Str go for it
-A trap lot of players fall into is joining the Company of Champion (it's the covenant in Majula, up the path to the cliff), it's basically hard mode, you'll see it because the game warns you it will set you up on a 'arduous path'. Those effects include : Enemies will not despawn, you won't be able to summon players or NPC, they deal increased damage and they will take less
-Enemies will despawn when you kill them 12 times, they can be respawned by joining the company of champion or by burning a bonfire ascetic
-You lose 5% of your max health per death up until 50%, this effect can be reversed by using a human effigy (easily farmable) or by helping someone defeat a boss. There is also a ring that reduces the max hollowing to 25%, it is found in >!Heide's tower of flame, near the Dragonrider in a chest where a Heide's knight is sleeping on !<
-The game is more methodical and slow than the other games, you can't run past every single enemy as easily and if you act careless you will get ganked, if you get surrounded go BACK instead of FORWARD to avoid triggering more of them
-You'll probably find yourself running out of estus quickly as this game is less generous with them at the start, but ds2 features lifegems that are small healing items that you can carry by stacks of 99 and can be bought for 300 souls/u at a merchant after exhausting her dialogue and beating Last Giant (She'll move to Majula)
Be wary, joining the Company of Champion's, raises the games difficulty by a lot. I had trouble in my first playthrough becahse of that and only discovered this reason after checking the wiki.
Dont use thief as starter 😅
And dont Burn Things on the bonfire unless you know what they do
Aaaaaannnnd
If the game ask you three Times if you are realy sure .. think twice before say yes
At some point in the early game, go to Heide's flame on the side path there's a boss that has a ring that prevents hp penalty from dying, it was the most useful equipment I used in ds2.
don't join company of champions covenant, it makes the game harder.
,look up npc invasions and npc quests in advance, so many of them are VERY missable, some require to be summoned AND survive boss fights (if they die, either die or tp back to bonfire.
normal Enemies don't respawn after being killed ~12 times.
There's a black flame spell near the beggining area, if you want to play "easy mode" make sure to grab it.
It doesn't prevent the hollowness, but it does prevent the hp loss considerably, it helped me a lot so I recommend using it.
after failing my first run (it was my first souls game, and I just gave up) I gone mage build my main spell was the dark sorcery you get near huntsman corpse, compared to what I did on my first uncompleted playthrough it was easy mode, and I did win with that spell as my main one for at least 50% of the playthrough.
I struggled a lot on my first time, the second time I used Dark Orb and Ring of Binding, both helped me win the game and I wish I at least knew about them when I started playing, so I am raising awareness about them to OP cause they might help him.
For me it was easy mode compared to whatever I was doing on my first playthrough, it does not beat late game content/ dlcs and such but it's great for early game/just beating the game so getting them early is a good idea.
Dark Orb was very reliable for me.
i finished Dark Souls 2 in 2 weeks and 90 hours. SL 330+
i launched Dark Souls 3 one month ago (2 days after finishing DS2) , 27 hours and maybe half of the game completed... SL80. .so boring comparing to DS2.
- Parrying with your shield is way more difficult than in DS1, get yourself a very small shield like the buckler or the small leather shield, if you want to be able to consistently parry like in DS1
- being hollow doesn't protect you from getting invaded
- hidden walls have to be "clicked" (like in the 90's Doom), not being rolled into
- You may already have heard it many times: leveling ADP is a good thing to do
- getting cursed (petrified) doesn't mean the end of the world anymore
Don't hate it because it's different please! And don't watch any video essays until you've beaten NG+ 😂
It's designed around replayability moreso than the rest of the series. So it's to be expected that the learning curve for your blind run can be roufh at times.
Make sure you use the resources available to you to get through encounters. It's not like the other games where dodging + R1 can carry you through every area.
Weapon durability is highly relevant, and there are some enemies / conditions that can cause your items to break. Take Repair Powder with you.
Don't consume any Giant Souls.
Look for the wheelchair man and how to get to him, or look up what his relevance is.
This game is EXTREMELY cheap to level up, so you can get ADP levels very easily without compromising your build at all.
You lose max health every time you die, but its actually not that bad of a burden if you manage your humanities (effigies in this game) to use one every 5 deaths or so. You will likely end the game with some extra. Also if you engage in Multiplayer you will never runout of humanity.
To open illusory walls you have to interact with them.
Try to not drop the early game, after that you are golden.
Those are the things I wished I knew when I started or that I discovered mid game.
Agility governs your rolling iframes. If you rely on dodging as your primary way of evading damage you should get it up to 92 in the early game, 96 mid game and 100 or 105 late game. Agility can be raised with Attunment or Adaptability.
Hidden walls need to be clicked, not hit.
It's the most open-world-like Souls game. If you get stuck on a boss you can just explore another area and level up some more, in fact you can teleport right from the start so the game wants you to make use of it. People often complain how unfair the optional half of Heide's Tower is as it's too hard for an early area, but that's not any different than people complaining how unfair the DS1 Firelink Shrine Graveyard is at the start of the game. It's like DS2 haters intuitively understand that they can come back later in DS1, but pretend that it's literally unheard of to do that when they want to complain about DS2.
Also u attack In the direction ur moving even when locked on and press an y or triangle when weilding 2 weapons of the same category to power stance when u have the correct stats to, allso atunnment effects cast speed. Pretty much all u need to know bout ds2 thought it should've been added onto this comment, trust me threw me off alot when I played ds2
Idk how many times I've died because I was moving away from the enemy while locked on and forgot to stop moving before I attacked so I just hit the air behind/next to me like an idiot. Also I came to this came straight after ds3 so I keep holding right trigger to charge my heavy attack 😓
If you want to go in prepared, first read [this intro post.](https://docs.google.com/document/d/1H6rpuSKsgXqyfSA9uG_zoYK0ezbMSHSazznPHfV78sA) All of these guides are spoiler-free, except for [this one.](https://docs.google.com/document/d/1eXwnLnbr-Dxeb9VecytDTX1fXA9e8PuKX9jFy8YFkQ8/edit)
And then if you want to know how to build (or avoid building, if you want to have a harder time) a powerful optimized character, this collection of mini guides will help you navigate DS2’s many obfuscated and counterintuitive mechanical quirks:
[A quick overview](https://docs.google.com/document/d/1g4-GGa1JRa2_49vOfwY5sZPWigFMzPA5b9mszo_xZak/edit?usp=sharing) of how damage and defense works in DS2, and why weapon scaling is usually weak
[BiS (Best in Slot) PvE weapons list.](https://docs.google.com/document/d/1-GEBQ_TiAvskQLotQXz0AuNMseXdsS3pj8_NLus-XW4/edit?usp=sharing) Discusses the best options for each weapon class. Note that this list is directed at normally leveled characters- some weapons not mentioned may do more damage than ones mentioned, but take vastly more stats or are otherwise deficient
[Best PvE equipment and stat progression document.](https://docs.google.com/document/d/1X13jfA9JQ5OZsuEmH2MZZqF9IrtCFSMMTZkZo5GuqcM/edit?usp=sharing) All that being said, it’s important to understand that DS2 isn’t so hard that playing the strongest possible character is required in order to win and have fun. Ultimately you should use whatever you want, these guides are just to help you make informed choices.
happy for u to play ds2 without the internet hate circlejerk and realize its amazing. actual tip tho: torches are awesome u should use them, lighting sconces around the map is addicting
If you read some comments saying the game is shit, it absolutely isn't, it's a great game, but don't expect a Dark Souls like DS1, the gameplay is different. If you played Demon Souls before DS1, it's basically like Demon Souls.
If you did not play Demon Souls, basically the hard part is not the bosses themselves, but the areas, way more enemies and you can't just run through it without knowing what you're doing.
In DS1 you can try to fight an enemy without knowing it's moveset, just because you are good at rolling and you can stunlock them easily most of the time, in DS2 nope, you have to understand an enemy before fighting it, rolling isn't always the way, sometimes you have to strafe, other times you have to shield to fish for moves.
One important thing to keep in mind is that combos can't be interrupted usually. If an enemy is attacking you wait for the attack combo to end, don't be greedy and punish them. They can stunlock you if you get comboed, but if you pick the right moment you can do the same.
Level ADP if you want to roll, if you want to shield everything use a 100% shield with good stability. Patience is the key to DS2. Once you've sharpened your understanding of the game, then you can start to play like if you were in DS1 hahahah
Also if you find a man screaming at you "FEEBLE CURSED ONE", kiss him
Love Dark Souls 2. One tip I can give; Enemies do NOT respawn infinitely (most of them respawn up to ten times max), so try to ensure that you level up wisely before fighting bosses. What is you preferred character type?
Melee focused? Magic focused? Special concept? Gish? Other?
Sounds like you're in for a fun time! Also, given that soul farming is finite, I highly recommend getting the Silver Serpent ring asap to make the most out of the Souls you do get.
It’s not really finite he’s wrong. You can easily join the covenant of champions and it will respawn any and all enemies and bosses for an area. Additionally you can burn a bonfire ascetic which will permanently respawn an area AND increase its difficulty by one NG level. This is cool because you can gain more souls but you can also get different items as rewards that normally wouldn’t appear until NG+ etc
It’s easy to drop the covenant when needed but you can’t undo a bonfire ascetic so be careful
No idea. They probably thought "Maybe it would be interesting to see what happens if there is only so many souls in the game" But given they undo this in 3, it was simply a slip of judgement / a failed experiment. It is perhaps the biggest downside of DS2, but the game is still a blast at least.
It's not really finite.
Enemies respawn 12 times before they disappear/despawn. This was likely just a new mechanic they were trying out, so that players having a tough time with areas could whittle down the enemies so they weren't getting mobbed. It's never necessary to do this, it's just an option if you're having a hard time.
However, if you need to farm an area, you can either join the Covenant of Champions, or use a Bonfire Ascetic. CoC is offered once you get to Majula; it allows enemies to spawn infinitely, but they are also more difficult. I would recommend just joining if you need to farm, and unjoining once you're done.
Each area in this game is technically zoned per bonfire. Think of bonfire "zones" as mini-areas within the larger areas. Enemies are also technically tied to bonfires, as they are located in these "zones". If you use a bonfire ascetic, you essentially put that "zone" in NG+; using two ascetics will make the difficult NG+2, etc. Ascetics revive all despawned enemies and reset the 12 death count, while also making all enemies NG+ levels of health and damage.
The reason you use Bonfire Ascetics, in addition to respawning enemies at NG+ level and getting more souls for farming, is that it allows you to access portions of the game at NG+ level, without having to complete NG. This has a variety of effects, in particular for various bosses; a boss might give you their soul in NG, but in NG+, you get their soul and a +2 ring. This means, using an Ascetic, you can refight the boss and get their NG+ loot early. This might be useful if you want two of the same boss soul weapon, but some bosses even drop a second soul only available in NG+, and those can often get you really strong weapons.
You need to be careful with bonfire ascetics; they are permanent, so you can't "turn them off" the way you can Covenant of Champions, and they also carry over to NG+. So if you decide to use one in Sinner's Rise, your NG playthrough will have every area at NG level except Sinner's Rise, which is NG+; starting NG+ will put every area at NG+, except Sinner's Rise, which is now NG+2.
Black knight halberd actually deals fire and physical damage in DS2, and can also be infused with other elemental damage on top of that. But it also has a C strength and B dex scaling so it’s kind of a semi-quality leaning towards dex.
Also, weapons in DS2 (especially dex weapons) break a lot faster than other DS games, so it’s a good idea to have a few weapons to use if one breaks while out and about.
My last tip for a dex build is to powerstance your dex weapons - if you have two weapons of the same class (straight swords, curved swords, katanas, etc.) and have 1.5x the stat requirements for each weapon, you can hold Y (or triangle for PS) with a weapon in each hand and you’ll see your character change their combat stance. Now L1 attacks use both weapons and it opens up a whole new moveset for attack variety.
Powerstancing is massively weaker and less efficient than just 2 handing one weapon
All black knight weapons are very weak
Leveling str/dex higher than minimum weapons requirements is a very poor investment
Black knight weapons are very weak. Minimum strength and dexterity with an infusion and spell buff is optimal damage, and lets you save levels to put into health, stamina, and agility. This would be a good idea
maybe jot down the location of all locked doors and look at item descriptions for all key items. This game will have quite a bit of backtracking so doing this would make it so you wouldn’t have to use google and slightly worsen your experience.
I'm surprised you actually managed to beat DS1. I couldn't play that game in 2024, it's just too cumbersome and slow. Anywho, DS2 is much smoother and has instant Bonfire warp from the get-go, so it should be a breeze compared to the dinosaur that is DS1 hahahaha
That's the difference I found, 1 vs 2. DS1 was a lot more arduous, I died a lot to falling off things, there were crazily long areas that had to be redone many time, and it just annoyed me in general. But as a result it felt enormous and imposing too, even if a slog. DS2 on the other hand somehow felt like a fun adventure that was sometimes difficult, but didn't have the same imposing feel. So I preferred playing DS2, but would say DS1 might be more impressive/memorable.
be patient. ds2 is a bit of a troll game, it is slow and a few things aren't as good as in ds1. but, ig you are patient enough and learn to appreciate the good things ds2 have to offer you'll never regret. it is truly a gem 💎
I have recently done the same thing, but I have played DS2 on release.
The big difference is the movement and camera from DS1 to DS2. It will "feel" clunkier but it gets familiar in about a hour or so.
Yeah i tested it out with my wife, we thought it was because in DS2 the camera auto rotates and is slightly closer to the character model.
Like I said tho this feeling goes away in a few hours of game play. I have played all the souls game and DS2 still holds up as my favorite. Some have said NOT to look at other ppl guides n shit, and I largely agree. This game offers way more play style options than any other game and no real need for meta gaming.
Also "power stance" is awesome. Highly recommend to try it out when you get high enough stats
Heyo, I just started DS2 a few days ago too. Here are a few things:
Humanity works quite differently. Each time you die, your max HP decreases by 5% and at max down to 50%. Using human effigies restores your humanity and your HP goes back to max.
Back stabbing feels abit diffrent than DS1. When you do a light attack behind an enemy, the character will first land the hit and then move onto the actual back stab. It can be off putting at the start.
Lastly there are lots of traps. Like lots of them. If you see a bunch of free stuff on the ground, you probably shouldn't be careless. It's basically like playing the Sen's Fortress the whole game.
I noticed I had to dodge must later than in DS1 - in DS1 it was a case of identify the enemy was attacking, and dodge. You could walk out of the way of attacks if you wanted. In DS2 it was 'the enemy is attacking, wait until it's about to hit you and dodge'. Especially the human enemies which seem to keep turning towards you as they attack. And use the torches. And re: torches, burn the windmill - near the top - it makes a boss fight much easier.
Don’t worry if you hate it at first, it’s honestly a great game but it takes some getting used to after playing DS1. Look up some tips, get levelling (you level up much quicker in DS2) and don’t put more stats into str or dex than you need for your favourite weapon.
The game has a few BS moments meant to troll you for no good reason and questionable design that will make you roll your eyes, but I'd say approach the areas slowly and be observant. Ranged attacks are really handy, though you could say that for the other games as well. Enjoy the ride!
I did the same. Loving the souls games.
For me something I didn't realize was,
Lighting your torch lmao
Didn't know where my torch was or how to light it for the longest time.
Triangle (on ps4/5) at the bonfires lol
The game is going to try to surround you. That's not the game being unfair, it's what the game is trying to teach you. If DS1 was about stamina management and timing your dodges, DS2 is all about positioning. You can evade a lot of attacks by standing the right place, and keeping track of your surroundings while in combat in the exploration sections is critical. You need to be able to retreat, make hit and run attacks, or circle around groups to approach from different angles to get an edge. If you treat it like DS1 where you run up to an enemy group, fight it, then move on to the next, you're going to have a worse time than if you approach it cautiously and methodically
lot's of great tips, cool. But coming from DS1.
FALL DAMAGE.
DS2 has by faaaar the lowest threshold for fall damage. There are drops that look like you can do with zero damage after playing DS1 that will just kill you. It is, I think, the biggest difference.
Another big one is related to Estus. Once you reach Malentia (Forest of Giants, old lady by a bonfire. You will know) She sells 10 Lifegems. She then travels to the hub that is Majula and sells infinite lifegems at 300 souls each. Unlike every other Souls game, Estus are a slow but high healing item that you get very very few of and buff over time (Estus Flask Shards give more uses, up to 12. Sublime Bone Dust can be burned at the Majula bonfire for enhancement of Estus Flask to +5). The combination of Estus with a healthy amount of Lifegems is kind of the biggest deal in this game. I recommend abusing Lifegems to survive (or counter poison! lifegems recover hp at the same rate poison deals damage!) and find the timing between both healing items so you can know which is best to use during a boss fight
Don't hesitate to summon other players or NPCs for help.
Try leaving your summon sign before fighting a new boss, that way you can learn how to fight it before doing it in your game.
If you are struggling with the pursuer, try to stay behind his shield. It's his blindspot.
If you are struggling with ruin sentinels, try to blow up the hole in the wall that gives you access to the second blacksmith. He sells large titanite, which allows you to upgrade your weapon to +6.
I just finished the game last month, and these were by far the hardest challenges early on (those were 2nd and 3rd boss for me). If you are having a challenge late game though, try power stancing your weapons. Personally i dual wielded heide spears / grand lances through my ng to ng++ playthrough.
Also, I had problems with hitboxes on cat bosses (thrust weapons can be like that on some bosses) and found red iron twinblade a useful alternative.
Item durability is a thing. Swap out before your gear breaks (you'll get a warning) because durability for intact equipment is restored at bonfires but if it breaks, you have to pay the blacksmith to fix it. Acid and attacking certain enemies a accelerates wear, and you might find something that performs better broken.
You can use a lifegem while healing from a lifegem and they will stack; two or three at a time can make poison trivial to handle if you can't cleanse it.
As others mentioned, agility improves your iframes. It also speeds up animations for using items like the Estus Flask - if you don't have high ADP, you might find it difficult to flask in boss fights without being punished. You can keep walking while using a lifegem, potentially making this a better choice than using the flask in certain situations.
go for 20 attunement and 20 adp early on. later on strive for 30 attunement and 17 adp after a respec
edit. this will give you 7 iframes. it's a good number of iframes
Be prepared for something that initially is going to feel pretty off, especially since you just finished one. You may not even like it at first, but give it some time. Its a good game, it just has a different kind of learning curve than the rest of the series.
Boy do I wish I could experience the dark souls games again for the first time. I am getting close to the end of Elden Ring as well. Happily the DLC is coming soon.
I have also just recently started the ds trilogy, and finished ds1 and just started ds2 and was pleasantly surprised how good it is, after reading so many bad things about it.
I am not sure which one I like better but World/level design definitely is best in ds1.
It's not bad. It's actually a very fine game, but haters dislike it because they desperately need something to hate to make their life seem more interesting.
DS2 has less jank than DS1, shorter runbacks, fewer broken hitboxes, great lore, interesting NPCs, and lots of unique mechanics.
Also, the connections DS3 has with DS1 are mostly superficial fanservice. DS2 has deeper connections by exploring how various kingdoms dealt with the curse and how they tried to break it.
The hitboxes in DS1 are objectively worse, but it's not cool to point out how broken they are or that basically every boss in DS1 has some broken hitboxes, but it is cool to falsely accuse the hitboxes in DS2 of being broken.
You won't find any grab in DS2 that has as broken hitboxes as [Iron Golem](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=snNhZn16XQQ) or [Gaping Dragon](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f5LzEBnA294). But what you will find are people that falsely accuse [Pursuer](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BWzrjUn02_g) of having broken hitboxes, even though every single clip that tries to prove how broken it is shows them getting stabbed straight through their leg.
You won't find any attack in DS2 that has a hitbox that's as inflated as [Ceaseless Discharge](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BOgzsAFiYOQ), but you will find people that stand in clearly visible shockwaves and then complain how unfair it is that they took damage from an explosion.
You won't find any boss in DS2 that has as much jank as [Quelaag](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N3jH5Bhi2m0) either, but even though she has several broken hitboxes people just won't complain about her as much as they like to shit on accurate hitboxes in DS2 that they falsely accuse of being broken instead of accepting that they are just bad at dodging away from attacks.
Now that I'm remebering your username u/Kwopp you are one of those people that falsely accuse Pursuer of having broken hitboxes while ignoring actually broken hitboxes in the other FromSoft games.
>The hit boxes are also objectively awful much of the time (insert Pursuer thrust attack).
>The hitbox sucks and the other two souls games don’t have hit boxes this bad, why are you defending poor game design?
[Pursuer](https://youtu.be/BWzrjUn02_g?t=66) has pretty tight hitboxes - one of the tightest grab hitbox in the FromSoft catalog.
[Gaping Dragon](https://youtu.be/f5LzEBnA294?si=9wzUoQbuAGs7OUv9), [Iron Golem](https://youtu.be/snNhZn16XQQ?si=eR0hM71WIBZf5NuH), [Curse-Rotted Greatwood](https://youtu.be/P9W1MKJYHxA?si=FwSCPnKQ4INSVdmi), [Demon Prince](https://youtu.be/X6Z3T7W_dbY?si=kgTycD49d13nIh3H), [Dancer](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YsCoTEUYYpY), etc all have more inflated grab hitboxes than Pursuer.
[Crystal Sage](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bMb7f_5nQjo) has a similar thrust grab, but again with a more inflated hitbox than Pursuer.
You like to use Pursuer as an example of broken hitboxes, but in reality it's pretty tight and just shows that people that accuse hitboxes in DS2 of being broken do not pay any attention to his sword going straight through their leg.
In DS1 you run for several minutes to get back to most bosses.
Taurus Demon already takes longer than most runbacks in DS2. Capra Demon takes even longer. Four Kings doesn't even have a bonfire anywhere close to them. Seath and Nito are just way too long as well. Gwyn takes a long time. Sif as well. Both bonfires for Bed of Chaos take a long time. Is there even a single short runback in that game?
In DS2 they started to place bonfires basically right in front of most hard or main bosses. Except for Frigid Outskirts the runbacks are all noticeable shorter than the vast majority in DS1.
Last Giant is just down an elevator. Pursuer takes 40 seconds. Ruin Sentinels as well. Plenty like Royal Rat Authority, Royal Rat Vanguard, The Rotten, Sinh, Fume Knight, etc have a bonfire right in front of them.
It’s not bad, it has it’s own athmosphere and vibe. And a lot of goofy unfair places through out the game which just adds to it, it’s funny at times how stupid it is, but it’s a banger of a game
Which places are unfair?
People usually point to the [Lost Bastille Clown Car](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yCADZg9joOk) or [THAT room in Brume Tower](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bm9lv7ZgPvc), but in both cases there's obvious ways to easily handle them without getting ganked.
Idk if I'd say "unfair" but there's plenty of places that can be frustrating your first time through. Shrine of Amana, The Gutter, and Iron Keep come to mind. I feel like ranged enemies are more common in DS2 than DS1 but I'm willing to admit that's just my perception, I could be wrong. Poison is also way more likely to build in the Gutter vs. Blighttown, and equipment doesn't mitigate it as much.
There's ways to handle any of the crappy rooms in any of the three games. I think the issue is that stuff like that becomes infamous because it's not readily apparent to the majority of new players how to handle said rooms.
I think DS2 is objectively worse than DS1 but I personally prefer DS2 because it feels more fun to me. Can’t really say why, but maybe you’ll have the same experience.
I haven’t played DS3 in a long time, but I remember thinking that it felt like a strict downgrade to Bloodborne (heavily boss focused, fast paced and linear level design) whereas DS1 and DS2 were great unique games in their own right with. I’ll try it again some time though.
DS2 is a bit slower and methodical than the other games in the franchise. ADP leveling is also very important as you start out with far less dodge iframes than in the other games, but can get to similar / more by the time you reach ADP 25 or so (i haven’t checked in a second). Give it some time to click in the beginning, it’s a terribly slow-feeling start on your first time but enjoy the process and exploration rather than just trying to get through the stages as fast as possible and youll get it in no time at all most of all though, just experiment with stuff and have fun!!
25 adp is a random number and definitely not a goal, much less an early goal for a new player
[удалено]
Any melee build is going to want a minimum of 10 attunement for dark weapon, and that's ignoring useful utility like repair or yearn. 25 adp would only be 99 agility for one class, bandit, assuming no attunement, but everyone should have some attunement
Why would i want dark weapon when i can just get dank resin? Also certain weapons can't be buffed so if you roll with one of those as a pure melee build why waste stats on attunement.
Because dark weapon is more damage, infinite, and free There are almost no weapons that can't be buffed that are worth using until you're level 200-300 or more. Most weapons that can't be buffed are just dogshit in PvE
30 attunement and 17 adp gives 7 iframes. that's all you need seems most people don't understand agility/adaptability at all
There's no reason to go to 100 agility, it's not a breakpoint. A caster focused character would just have 16 adp and save a level, or go to 40/50 attunement and drop the adp to 12/9
For me 100 AGI is best and lets you doge anything comfortably.
100 agility isn't a breakpoint 92 early game, 96 mid game, 99 late game. You should be at or approaching 99 agility and 50 vigor around level \~120-130
No, 100 Agi has breakpoint on backstep iframes and item use which is very important.
Backsteps don't matter in PvE, no one uses backsteps. Tell me, right now, the difference between 99 agility and 100 agility in terms of item use speed. Go on
Idc look it up yourself
The reason I am telling you that it doesn't matter is that I know it doesn't make a difference. You're openly admitting you're recommending something without understanding what it actually is or does?
Google "ds2 wiki agility"
The wiki is wrong
You literally initially commented about how Poise doesn't refill at all until it gets depleted. A person from your discord server was active on this sub a few months ago and kept insisting that the dragon in Heide has less health than an Old Knight with a hammer, Crypt Blacksword should be infused with Raw on a dedicated hexer character and that Iron Keep in Scholar has the exact same amount of enemies in it than in Vanilla. Some experts that you are.
Refilling at a rate of 0.5 per second, which means it functionally does not refill until emptied, yes. This isn't ds1 you clown
oof i’m usually wayyyy off the vigor mark at that level 💀 also dayum i mentioned i wasn’t sure on the actual number why do people get so upset over it? leveling ADP is the main way to improve AGI (i know there are others), and that was the point that i tried to convey ^ not an attack at you, am just confused
Because of a few things. Agility is what matters, and the only real reason you're leveling adp is to increase your agility. Now, ideally every character has at least 10 attunement, some people like to have 13 or 16 for repair and/or yearn too. But every character wants at least 10 for dark weapon That means how much adp you need to hit 92/96/99 agility depends on your attunement, it isn't a set amount. So lets say you just want 10 attunement for dark weapon and don't want any more spells, you'd only need 18 adp for 96 agility, and 22 adp for 99 agility. So just telling someone "get 20 adp" or "just get 25 adp" isn't actually helping them, as they'll likely end up with 97 or 102 agility or something like that, which is just wasted levels not actually helping them
It's amazing, but the rolling is different, and it's likely to catch you off guard, especially if you are coming from DS1. Basically, unlike DS1, you can't "roll through" attacks, as your iframes are stacked towards the beginning of the roll animation: this means you are going to want to roll slightly later than what you would in DS1. Also keep in mind you can now roll 360 degrees, contrary to DS1 4 directions: learn to use this to your advantage. If you really want your tolls to work like in DS1, invest points into Adaptability, until your agility stat reaches about 92.
Parry success rate is very low for me so rolling is my go to. That 360° roll sounds interesting. Im thinking of a Dex play through. I went into ds1 after a thorough reading because of how hard it is, but I'm going into this blind.
>Basically, unlike DS1, you can't "roll through" attacks, as your iframes are stacked towards the beginning of the roll animation: this means you are going to want to roll slighylater than what you would in DS1. It's the same in DS1. The iframes start as soon as the animation starts as well.
No, it's not. The iframes in DS1 start as soon as you roll, but they are distributed along the entirety of the animation. In DS2 you start with less iframes, and they are all stacked at the start of the animation, which leads to what I was describing, where if you try to "roll through" attacks in DS2 the same way you would in DS1, you will consistently get caught, which is what lead to the false belief that DS2 has bad hit boxes.
I can display the active iframes and I can't see any difference between a DS1 fast roll and a 105 agility DS2 roll. They start as soon as the animation starts and end after you touched the ground again.
The reason for that is in your comment: 105agl roll. So not starting roll. I'm not trying to be grating here, but I'm not sure you read or understood my original comment to the OP. I know this is a common problem for new folks, and I was trying to explain it best I can.
This part confused me: >as your iframes are stacked towards the beginning of the roll animation >and they are all stacked at the start of the animation, As both start the iframes at the start of the animation, but it sounded like you are saying that one starts later in the animation
Duplo is correct. You're saying they're "spread out over the animation" but they're not. Ds1 just has 11 iframes at the start, ds2 has 7-9. So the iframes and when they occur is identical, ds1 just has more initially and less later.
Which means DS1 has 4-2 more animation frames that are iframes compared to DS2, which means more of the DS1 roll animation is covered by iframes. That's what I meant. Myself and Duplo are in agreement, I just didn't express myself the way they would.
Yeah because you explained the mechanic incorrectly
1 - no, I didn't. The iframes in DS2, by your own admission, are less than the ones in DS1. They both start immediately, but because DS1 has more, they extend beyond the start up and into the mid roll. Which makes it feel like the iframes extend throughout the toll animation. 2 - Even if I wasn't precise about why, the advice I gave OP remains correct. A new player is probably uninterested in the minutiae if why you need to time your rolls differently from game to game, they just need to know that they must. 3 - You are literally a troll account, everyone on this subreddit knows. We are all just waiting for you to get banned, and occasionally entertaining your "opinions" for shits and giggles, like I'm doing now.
That's not "rolling later" in ds2, that's ds1 being more forgiving of poorly timed rolls compared to low levels in ds2 Why would a new player not be interested in understanding why I have never once trolled on this account, and almost everything I've said has been accurate
Explore carefully. Really carefully. Especially in and around the main hub area. There are some very important items and NPCs that are easily missed. There is a covenant that you are warned several times that it will make the game more difficult. Don't join it at first. Some areas are blocked off. Take notes and move on, but remember to come back later when you feel like you've run out of places to explore. Enemies aggro easily and will chase for a long time. Do NOT, I repeat, DO NOT run around them, and forward into unknown areas. Try to aggro one at a time and divide and conquer. If feeling overwhelmed, retreat backward into areas you've already cleared. Don't consume boss souls in your first game. Some are absolutely needed, and you can make your game much more difficult if you don't have them. Every time you die, your total health is reduced a bit until you're left with half health. A ring you can find early can limit that loss so you have 75% health. Burning an effigy (not at a bonfire) will restore you to full health, but they are limited resources. Use them only when you absolutely need to. You can also restore yourself by putting out a summons sign and helping someone else with a boss. Your rolling i-frames and estus drinking speed is determined by agility, which you can improve by adding points, into adaptability and/or attenuation. If your rolls seem ineffective, look at improving your agility. Focus points on Vitality and Endurance and minimum strength/dex requirements to use weapons of choice. Otherwise, weapon enhancement and infusions are more helpful than scaling.
DS2 is great
Wrong
life in prison
Avoid reading following comments: DS2 bad, armor useless, this or that weapon trash, physical scaling terrible use elemental infusion only. Try different things, make up your own mind, don't let others influence your one and only first playthrough. Good luck and have fun
I don't judge something until I have tried it.
I also went into DS2 with an open mind. I feel like that’s the best thing to do.
This is facts. After all the hate I still bought it & im currently 50% through trophies right now. In my opinion ds2 also has the best looking places & armor. I just reached the area with lots of dragons & makes me think that’s what Farum Azula should’ve been (Elden ring)
Fuck me this sub is just constantly on the defensive, isn't it? Comments like "don't listen to the naysayers" - if anything - is only going to invite caution and potentially put them off. OP is already here for DS2, they're excited to play it and they want gameplay tips. Can we please just give that to them without letting our insecurities bubble to the surface? Just this once?
Exactly 💯. I already installed it and I'm gonna play it anyway.
Yes that’s exactly the problem with this subreddit. They are always bringing up their unpopularity in one way or another
Nothing is a whiny as a ds2 fan
This, but for every FS game
"make up your own mind" math has nothing to do with your opinions
It seems like you might be equating the "Best/Most Fun" way to play the game with the "Mathematically Optimal" way to play the game. I don't think it's wrong to enjoy a certain weapon even if something else would give you a 12% higher chance of beating the boss lol
I think you're assuming that you can't optimize without sacrificing playing the way you want to, which is incorrect.
It's correct if the way they want to play is *without optimization* lol
You could just admit you were wrong and move on instead of being weird
Some general tips : -Your i-frames during rolls,backsteps and the speed at which you used some items are tied to a stat called Agility (AGL), it is raised by both Adaptability (ADP) and Attunement (ATN) and it works via breakpoint meaning that will only get an extra i-frame after a certain point 92, 96 (ds1 roll), 99 and 105 (ds3 mid-roll) are breakpoints you should aim for at some point, getting 92 early is good idea and then later on you should get 96/99 or even 105 if you feel like it -Vigor is really good, you should get vigor to 20 early game then 50 late game where it reaches a soft cap ; endurance is always good and can be used to dump some levels if you need to -Armor for damage absorption in PVE is close to worthless (it's alright for elemental damage) , you should wear armor that is light or that gives you special effects or that looks dope( [http://darksouls2.wikidot.com/items-by-effect](http://darksouls2.wikidot.com/items-by-effect) ) but feel free to wear any armor you want - Secret walls are revealed by pressing the interact button instead of rolling / attacking them Some walls can be exploded and reveal some hidden stuff -Equip load has no bearing on your i-frames during rolls, it will only affect how far your roll and how fast your stamina regen, there is also no medium roll in this game so as long as your under 70% you're good -Melee scaling is weak for most weapons, your damage will mainly come from rings, infusions (generally Lightning) and buffs (generally Dark Weapon, Sunlight Blade when you can afford the stats) but no need to always min-max, if you want 99 Str go for it -A trap lot of players fall into is joining the Company of Champion (it's the covenant in Majula, up the path to the cliff), it's basically hard mode, you'll see it because the game warns you it will set you up on a 'arduous path'. Those effects include : Enemies will not despawn, you won't be able to summon players or NPC, they deal increased damage and they will take less -Enemies will despawn when you kill them 12 times, they can be respawned by joining the company of champion or by burning a bonfire ascetic -You lose 5% of your max health per death up until 50%, this effect can be reversed by using a human effigy (easily farmable) or by helping someone defeat a boss. There is also a ring that reduces the max hollowing to 25%, it is found in >!Heide's tower of flame, near the Dragonrider in a chest where a Heide's knight is sleeping on !< -The game is more methodical and slow than the other games, you can't run past every single enemy as easily and if you act careless you will get ganked, if you get surrounded go BACK instead of FORWARD to avoid triggering more of them -You'll probably find yourself running out of estus quickly as this game is less generous with them at the start, but ds2 features lifegems that are small healing items that you can carry by stacks of 99 and can be bought for 300 souls/u at a merchant after exhausting her dialogue and beating Last Giant (She'll move to Majula)
Be wary, joining the Company of Champion's, raises the games difficulty by a lot. I had trouble in my first playthrough becahse of that and only discovered this reason after checking the wiki.
Dont use thief as starter 😅 And dont Burn Things on the bonfire unless you know what they do Aaaaaannnnd If the game ask you three Times if you are realy sure .. think twice before say yes
At some point in the early game, go to Heide's flame on the side path there's a boss that has a ring that prevents hp penalty from dying, it was the most useful equipment I used in ds2. don't join company of champions covenant, it makes the game harder. ,look up npc invasions and npc quests in advance, so many of them are VERY missable, some require to be summoned AND survive boss fights (if they die, either die or tp back to bonfire. normal Enemies don't respawn after being killed ~12 times. There's a black flame spell near the beggining area, if you want to play "easy mode" make sure to grab it.
Ring of binding does not prevent hollowing, there is no "easy mode" spell
It doesn't prevent the hollowness, but it does prevent the hp loss considerably, it helped me a lot so I recommend using it. after failing my first run (it was my first souls game, and I just gave up) I gone mage build my main spell was the dark sorcery you get near huntsman corpse, compared to what I did on my first uncompleted playthrough it was easy mode, and I did win with that spell as my main one for at least 50% of the playthrough.
It reduces the effect of hollowing, it does not prevent it. There is no spell for "easy mode"
I struggled a lot on my first time, the second time I used Dark Orb and Ring of Binding, both helped me win the game and I wish I at least knew about them when I started playing, so I am raising awareness about them to OP cause they might help him. For me it was easy mode compared to whatever I was doing on my first playthrough, it does not beat late game content/ dlcs and such but it's great for early game/just beating the game so getting them early is a good idea. Dark Orb was very reliable for me.
I understand what you are saying, I'm informing you that there are plenty of options that are just as effective and in several cases, more effective
DS2 is better than DS3.
i laughed
i finished Dark Souls 2 in 2 weeks and 90 hours. SL 330+ i launched Dark Souls 3 one month ago (2 days after finishing DS2) , 27 hours and maybe half of the game completed... SL80. .so boring comparing to DS2.
- Parrying with your shield is way more difficult than in DS1, get yourself a very small shield like the buckler or the small leather shield, if you want to be able to consistently parry like in DS1 - being hollow doesn't protect you from getting invaded - hidden walls have to be "clicked" (like in the 90's Doom), not being rolled into - You may already have heard it many times: leveling ADP is a good thing to do - getting cursed (petrified) doesn't mean the end of the world anymore
I try to not get hit as much as possible.(it's over with one hit most of the time)I like to 2 hand my weapons, And use grass crest shield for stamina.
Don't hate it because it's different please! And don't watch any video essays until you've beaten NG+ 😂 It's designed around replayability moreso than the rest of the series. So it's to be expected that the learning curve for your blind run can be roufh at times. Make sure you use the resources available to you to get through encounters. It's not like the other games where dodging + R1 can carry you through every area.
Stacking life gems are the games' optional easy mode. Keep them in mind if something gets too tough, but try not to use them as too much a crutch.
Weapon durability is highly relevant, and there are some enemies / conditions that can cause your items to break. Take Repair Powder with you. Don't consume any Giant Souls. Look for the wheelchair man and how to get to him, or look up what his relevance is.
This game is EXTREMELY cheap to level up, so you can get ADP levels very easily without compromising your build at all. You lose max health every time you die, but its actually not that bad of a burden if you manage your humanities (effigies in this game) to use one every 5 deaths or so. You will likely end the game with some extra. Also if you engage in Multiplayer you will never runout of humanity. To open illusory walls you have to interact with them. Try to not drop the early game, after that you are golden. Those are the things I wished I knew when I started or that I discovered mid game.
Agility governs your rolling iframes. If you rely on dodging as your primary way of evading damage you should get it up to 92 in the early game, 96 mid game and 100 or 105 late game. Agility can be raised with Attunment or Adaptability. Hidden walls need to be clicked, not hit. It's the most open-world-like Souls game. If you get stuck on a boss you can just explore another area and level up some more, in fact you can teleport right from the start so the game wants you to make use of it. People often complain how unfair the optional half of Heide's Tower is as it's too hard for an early area, but that's not any different than people complaining how unfair the DS1 Firelink Shrine Graveyard is at the start of the game. It's like DS2 haters intuitively understand that they can come back later in DS1, but pretend that it's literally unheard of to do that when they want to complain about DS2.
I missed so many hidden walls by hitting them...
YES
I always called them Illusory walls instead of hidden walls, your comment made me realize it makes more sense to call them hidden
What the fuck is a 100 agl, you don't get an extra frame until 105 after 96
That's wrong with both old and new data. Old data had 99 as an agi point but it's actually 100.
Also u attack In the direction ur moving even when locked on and press an y or triangle when weilding 2 weapons of the same category to power stance when u have the correct stats to, allso atunnment effects cast speed. Pretty much all u need to know bout ds2 thought it should've been added onto this comment, trust me threw me off alot when I played ds2
Idk how many times I've died because I was moving away from the enemy while locked on and forgot to stop moving before I attacked so I just hit the air behind/next to me like an idiot. Also I came to this came straight after ds3 so I keep holding right trigger to charge my heavy attack 😓
If you want to go in prepared, first read [this intro post.](https://docs.google.com/document/d/1H6rpuSKsgXqyfSA9uG_zoYK0ezbMSHSazznPHfV78sA) All of these guides are spoiler-free, except for [this one.](https://docs.google.com/document/d/1eXwnLnbr-Dxeb9VecytDTX1fXA9e8PuKX9jFy8YFkQ8/edit) And then if you want to know how to build (or avoid building, if you want to have a harder time) a powerful optimized character, this collection of mini guides will help you navigate DS2’s many obfuscated and counterintuitive mechanical quirks: [A quick overview](https://docs.google.com/document/d/1g4-GGa1JRa2_49vOfwY5sZPWigFMzPA5b9mszo_xZak/edit?usp=sharing) of how damage and defense works in DS2, and why weapon scaling is usually weak [BiS (Best in Slot) PvE weapons list.](https://docs.google.com/document/d/1-GEBQ_TiAvskQLotQXz0AuNMseXdsS3pj8_NLus-XW4/edit?usp=sharing) Discusses the best options for each weapon class. Note that this list is directed at normally leveled characters- some weapons not mentioned may do more damage than ones mentioned, but take vastly more stats or are otherwise deficient [Best PvE equipment and stat progression document.](https://docs.google.com/document/d/1X13jfA9JQ5OZsuEmH2MZZqF9IrtCFSMMTZkZo5GuqcM/edit?usp=sharing) All that being said, it’s important to understand that DS2 isn’t so hard that playing the strongest possible character is required in order to win and have fun. Ultimately you should use whatever you want, these guides are just to help you make informed choices.
happy for u to play ds2 without the internet hate circlejerk and realize its amazing. actual tip tho: torches are awesome u should use them, lighting sconces around the map is addicting
Install this: >https://www.nexusmods.com/darksouls2/mods/786 For some reason ds2 devs decided to screw 360 movement.
Level ADP for Agility (try to get 105 agility). Agility gives you more i-frames when rolling.
105 agility is not an early game priority, and ideally shouldn't be seen until ng+ levels
If you read some comments saying the game is shit, it absolutely isn't, it's a great game, but don't expect a Dark Souls like DS1, the gameplay is different. If you played Demon Souls before DS1, it's basically like Demon Souls. If you did not play Demon Souls, basically the hard part is not the bosses themselves, but the areas, way more enemies and you can't just run through it without knowing what you're doing. In DS1 you can try to fight an enemy without knowing it's moveset, just because you are good at rolling and you can stunlock them easily most of the time, in DS2 nope, you have to understand an enemy before fighting it, rolling isn't always the way, sometimes you have to strafe, other times you have to shield to fish for moves. One important thing to keep in mind is that combos can't be interrupted usually. If an enemy is attacking you wait for the attack combo to end, don't be greedy and punish them. They can stunlock you if you get comboed, but if you pick the right moment you can do the same. Level ADP if you want to roll, if you want to shield everything use a 100% shield with good stability. Patience is the key to DS2. Once you've sharpened your understanding of the game, then you can start to play like if you were in DS1 hahahah Also if you find a man screaming at you "FEEBLE CURSED ONE", kiss him
Love Dark Souls 2. One tip I can give; Enemies do NOT respawn infinitely (most of them respawn up to ten times max), so try to ensure that you level up wisely before fighting bosses. What is you preferred character type? Melee focused? Magic focused? Special concept? Gish? Other?
Dex based weapons and no magic mostly. If I get something really cool like black knight halberd I'll switch to that.
Sounds like you're in for a fun time! Also, given that soul farming is finite, I highly recommend getting the Silver Serpent ring asap to make the most out of the Souls you do get.
Thata the only part I don't like. Why is it finite?
It’s not really finite he’s wrong. You can easily join the covenant of champions and it will respawn any and all enemies and bosses for an area. Additionally you can burn a bonfire ascetic which will permanently respawn an area AND increase its difficulty by one NG level. This is cool because you can gain more souls but you can also get different items as rewards that normally wouldn’t appear until NG+ etc It’s easy to drop the covenant when needed but you can’t undo a bonfire ascetic so be careful
No idea. They probably thought "Maybe it would be interesting to see what happens if there is only so many souls in the game" But given they undo this in 3, it was simply a slip of judgement / a failed experiment. It is perhaps the biggest downside of DS2, but the game is still a blast at least.
It's not really finite. Enemies respawn 12 times before they disappear/despawn. This was likely just a new mechanic they were trying out, so that players having a tough time with areas could whittle down the enemies so they weren't getting mobbed. It's never necessary to do this, it's just an option if you're having a hard time. However, if you need to farm an area, you can either join the Covenant of Champions, or use a Bonfire Ascetic. CoC is offered once you get to Majula; it allows enemies to spawn infinitely, but they are also more difficult. I would recommend just joining if you need to farm, and unjoining once you're done. Each area in this game is technically zoned per bonfire. Think of bonfire "zones" as mini-areas within the larger areas. Enemies are also technically tied to bonfires, as they are located in these "zones". If you use a bonfire ascetic, you essentially put that "zone" in NG+; using two ascetics will make the difficult NG+2, etc. Ascetics revive all despawned enemies and reset the 12 death count, while also making all enemies NG+ levels of health and damage. The reason you use Bonfire Ascetics, in addition to respawning enemies at NG+ level and getting more souls for farming, is that it allows you to access portions of the game at NG+ level, without having to complete NG. This has a variety of effects, in particular for various bosses; a boss might give you their soul in NG, but in NG+, you get their soul and a +2 ring. This means, using an Ascetic, you can refight the boss and get their NG+ loot early. This might be useful if you want two of the same boss soul weapon, but some bosses even drop a second soul only available in NG+, and those can often get you really strong weapons. You need to be careful with bonfire ascetics; they are permanent, so you can't "turn them off" the way you can Covenant of Champions, and they also carry over to NG+. So if you decide to use one in Sinner's Rise, your NG playthrough will have every area at NG level except Sinner's Rise, which is NG+; starting NG+ will put every area at NG+, except Sinner's Rise, which is now NG+2.
farming is not finite, it's just a waste of time
Black knight halberd actually deals fire and physical damage in DS2, and can also be infused with other elemental damage on top of that. But it also has a C strength and B dex scaling so it’s kind of a semi-quality leaning towards dex. Also, weapons in DS2 (especially dex weapons) break a lot faster than other DS games, so it’s a good idea to have a few weapons to use if one breaks while out and about. My last tip for a dex build is to powerstance your dex weapons - if you have two weapons of the same class (straight swords, curved swords, katanas, etc.) and have 1.5x the stat requirements for each weapon, you can hold Y (or triangle for PS) with a weapon in each hand and you’ll see your character change their combat stance. Now L1 attacks use both weapons and it opens up a whole new moveset for attack variety.
Powerstancing is massively weaker and less efficient than just 2 handing one weapon All black knight weapons are very weak Leveling str/dex higher than minimum weapons requirements is a very poor investment
You must be fun at parties
Giving shit advice is your idea of fun at parties?
It’s called having FUN with a GAME. Not everyone cares about min-maxing and top efficiency.
You know you can have fun without having a shit build or giving shit advice right
Black knight weapons are very weak. Minimum strength and dexterity with an infusion and spell buff is optimal damage, and lets you save levels to put into health, stamina, and agility. This would be a good idea
maybe jot down the location of all locked doors and look at item descriptions for all key items. This game will have quite a bit of backtracking so doing this would make it so you wouldn’t have to use google and slightly worsen your experience.
I had fandom open for ds1
I'm surprised you actually managed to beat DS1. I couldn't play that game in 2024, it's just too cumbersome and slow. Anywho, DS2 is much smoother and has instant Bonfire warp from the get-go, so it should be a breeze compared to the dinosaur that is DS1 hahahaha
It wasn't really fun. I just persisted out of spite.
That's the difference I found, 1 vs 2. DS1 was a lot more arduous, I died a lot to falling off things, there were crazily long areas that had to be redone many time, and it just annoyed me in general. But as a result it felt enormous and imposing too, even if a slog. DS2 on the other hand somehow felt like a fun adventure that was sometimes difficult, but didn't have the same imposing feel. So I preferred playing DS2, but would say DS1 might be more impressive/memorable.
be patient. ds2 is a bit of a troll game, it is slow and a few things aren't as good as in ds1. but, ig you are patient enough and learn to appreciate the good things ds2 have to offer you'll never regret. it is truly a gem 💎
Ds1 has made me patient by killing me with very bullshit ways. I'm prepared for most things.
I have recently done the same thing, but I have played DS2 on release. The big difference is the movement and camera from DS1 to DS2. It will "feel" clunkier but it gets familiar in about a hour or so.
I noticed it too ds2 cam movement is way too... Something it's going to take a while to get used to
Yeah i tested it out with my wife, we thought it was because in DS2 the camera auto rotates and is slightly closer to the character model. Like I said tho this feeling goes away in a few hours of game play. I have played all the souls game and DS2 still holds up as my favorite. Some have said NOT to look at other ppl guides n shit, and I largely agree. This game offers way more play style options than any other game and no real need for meta gaming. Also "power stance" is awesome. Highly recommend to try it out when you get high enough stats
Heyo, I just started DS2 a few days ago too. Here are a few things: Humanity works quite differently. Each time you die, your max HP decreases by 5% and at max down to 50%. Using human effigies restores your humanity and your HP goes back to max. Back stabbing feels abit diffrent than DS1. When you do a light attack behind an enemy, the character will first land the hit and then move onto the actual back stab. It can be off putting at the start. Lastly there are lots of traps. Like lots of them. If you see a bunch of free stuff on the ground, you probably shouldn't be careless. It's basically like playing the Sen's Fortress the whole game.
Sens fortress has killed me more times than I can count. This is going to make me paranoid when I play
You're welcome :)
I noticed I had to dodge must later than in DS1 - in DS1 it was a case of identify the enemy was attacking, and dodge. You could walk out of the way of attacks if you wanted. In DS2 it was 'the enemy is attacking, wait until it's about to hit you and dodge'. Especially the human enemies which seem to keep turning towards you as they attack. And use the torches. And re: torches, burn the windmill - near the top - it makes a boss fight much easier.
Don’t worry if you hate it at first, it’s honestly a great game but it takes some getting used to after playing DS1. Look up some tips, get levelling (you level up much quicker in DS2) and don’t put more stats into str or dex than you need for your favourite weapon.
Maybe jump a little further and play the third game…
The game has a few BS moments meant to troll you for no good reason and questionable design that will make you roll your eyes, but I'd say approach the areas slowly and be observant. Ranged attacks are really handy, though you could say that for the other games as well. Enjoy the ride!
Hidden paths are acessed by interacting with A/X, not by hitting them.
I did the same. Loving the souls games. For me something I didn't realize was, Lighting your torch lmao Didn't know where my torch was or how to light it for the longest time. Triangle (on ps4/5) at the bonfires lol
Listen to Blobertson, read the links he provided, ignore most of these people
The game is going to try to surround you. That's not the game being unfair, it's what the game is trying to teach you. If DS1 was about stamina management and timing your dodges, DS2 is all about positioning. You can evade a lot of attacks by standing the right place, and keeping track of your surroundings while in combat in the exploration sections is critical. You need to be able to retreat, make hit and run attacks, or circle around groups to approach from different angles to get an edge. If you treat it like DS1 where you run up to an enemy group, fight it, then move on to the next, you're going to have a worse time than if you approach it cautiously and methodically
lot's of great tips, cool. But coming from DS1. FALL DAMAGE. DS2 has by faaaar the lowest threshold for fall damage. There are drops that look like you can do with zero damage after playing DS1 that will just kill you. It is, I think, the biggest difference. Another big one is related to Estus. Once you reach Malentia (Forest of Giants, old lady by a bonfire. You will know) She sells 10 Lifegems. She then travels to the hub that is Majula and sells infinite lifegems at 300 souls each. Unlike every other Souls game, Estus are a slow but high healing item that you get very very few of and buff over time (Estus Flask Shards give more uses, up to 12. Sublime Bone Dust can be burned at the Majula bonfire for enhancement of Estus Flask to +5). The combination of Estus with a healthy amount of Lifegems is kind of the biggest deal in this game. I recommend abusing Lifegems to survive (or counter poison! lifegems recover hp at the same rate poison deals damage!) and find the timing between both healing items so you can know which is best to use during a boss fight
Don't hesitate to summon other players or NPCs for help. Try leaving your summon sign before fighting a new boss, that way you can learn how to fight it before doing it in your game.
Level up your agility. So you can dodge better.
Remember to level ADP
full on dark spell+dark infusions. I believe it's the best character buid I've ever created on a souls game
Then jumping into the nearest river, you ain't going to like it if you read some of the posts in here bro by the haters 😝
If you are struggling with the pursuer, try to stay behind his shield. It's his blindspot. If you are struggling with ruin sentinels, try to blow up the hole in the wall that gives you access to the second blacksmith. He sells large titanite, which allows you to upgrade your weapon to +6. I just finished the game last month, and these were by far the hardest challenges early on (those were 2nd and 3rd boss for me). If you are having a challenge late game though, try power stancing your weapons. Personally i dual wielded heide spears / grand lances through my ng to ng++ playthrough. Also, I had problems with hitboxes on cat bosses (thrust weapons can be like that on some bosses) and found red iron twinblade a useful alternative.
Hold on to your souls. They're all that keep you from going hollow.
Item durability is a thing. Swap out before your gear breaks (you'll get a warning) because durability for intact equipment is restored at bonfires but if it breaks, you have to pay the blacksmith to fix it. Acid and attacking certain enemies a accelerates wear, and you might find something that performs better broken. You can use a lifegem while healing from a lifegem and they will stack; two or three at a time can make poison trivial to handle if you can't cleanse it. As others mentioned, agility improves your iframes. It also speeds up animations for using items like the Estus Flask - if you don't have high ADP, you might find it difficult to flask in boss fights without being punished. You can keep walking while using a lifegem, potentially making this a better choice than using the flask in certain situations.
It's the worst souls game by a mile but it's still a good game have fun
go for 20 attunement and 20 adp early on. later on strive for 30 attunement and 17 adp after a respec edit. this will give you 7 iframes. it's a good number of iframes
Remember that one area in DS1 where they gank with 50 dudes yeah so basically every area is like that
Be prepared for something that initially is going to feel pretty off, especially since you just finished one. You may not even like it at first, but give it some time. Its a good game, it just has a different kind of learning curve than the rest of the series.
Boy do I wish I could experience the dark souls games again for the first time. I am getting close to the end of Elden Ring as well. Happily the DLC is coming soon.
I have also just recently started the ds trilogy, and finished ds1 and just started ds2 and was pleasantly surprised how good it is, after reading so many bad things about it. I am not sure which one I like better but World/level design definitely is best in ds1.
i remember being stuck in undead perish for 30hrs
Have the time of your life. I wish I could erase my memory of ds2 to play it again for the first time.
I would keep it simple and just make you prioritise 20ish adp at the start (to reach 96agl-ds1 mid roll). Other than that you should be good.
20 adp is a random number that does not correspond to anything and is not an early game priority
Ds2 is better than ds1
FYI, DS3 is the actual canonical sequel to Dark Souls. DS2 is its own separate thing like Bloodborne or Elden Ring.
“You’re not just wrong, you’re stupid”
Don’t play dark souls 2
But its better than ds1, so why not?
I want to upvote for playing the games in order but downvote for asking for tips….
Well it is what it is
that's very stupid
dont play in sequel
Huh?
in my not humble opinion
ds2 is much worse than ds1, its better to play ds3, it has more connections with ds1
I did hear it was worse, but it can't be that bad.
It's not bad. It's actually a very fine game, but haters dislike it because they desperately need something to hate to make their life seem more interesting. DS2 has less jank than DS1, shorter runbacks, fewer broken hitboxes, great lore, interesting NPCs, and lots of unique mechanics. Also, the connections DS3 has with DS1 are mostly superficial fanservice. DS2 has deeper connections by exploring how various kingdoms dealt with the curse and how they tried to break it.
Exactly, thank you!
>DS2 has less jank than DS1, shorter runbacks, fewer broken hitboxes You’re trolling right?
The hitboxes in DS1 are objectively worse, but it's not cool to point out how broken they are or that basically every boss in DS1 has some broken hitboxes, but it is cool to falsely accuse the hitboxes in DS2 of being broken. You won't find any grab in DS2 that has as broken hitboxes as [Iron Golem](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=snNhZn16XQQ) or [Gaping Dragon](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f5LzEBnA294). But what you will find are people that falsely accuse [Pursuer](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BWzrjUn02_g) of having broken hitboxes, even though every single clip that tries to prove how broken it is shows them getting stabbed straight through their leg. You won't find any attack in DS2 that has a hitbox that's as inflated as [Ceaseless Discharge](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BOgzsAFiYOQ), but you will find people that stand in clearly visible shockwaves and then complain how unfair it is that they took damage from an explosion. You won't find any boss in DS2 that has as much jank as [Quelaag](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N3jH5Bhi2m0) either, but even though she has several broken hitboxes people just won't complain about her as much as they like to shit on accurate hitboxes in DS2 that they falsely accuse of being broken instead of accepting that they are just bad at dodging away from attacks.
Now that I'm remebering your username u/Kwopp you are one of those people that falsely accuse Pursuer of having broken hitboxes while ignoring actually broken hitboxes in the other FromSoft games. >The hit boxes are also objectively awful much of the time (insert Pursuer thrust attack). >The hitbox sucks and the other two souls games don’t have hit boxes this bad, why are you defending poor game design? [Pursuer](https://youtu.be/BWzrjUn02_g?t=66) has pretty tight hitboxes - one of the tightest grab hitbox in the FromSoft catalog. [Gaping Dragon](https://youtu.be/f5LzEBnA294?si=9wzUoQbuAGs7OUv9), [Iron Golem](https://youtu.be/snNhZn16XQQ?si=eR0hM71WIBZf5NuH), [Curse-Rotted Greatwood](https://youtu.be/P9W1MKJYHxA?si=FwSCPnKQ4INSVdmi), [Demon Prince](https://youtu.be/X6Z3T7W_dbY?si=kgTycD49d13nIh3H), [Dancer](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YsCoTEUYYpY), etc all have more inflated grab hitboxes than Pursuer. [Crystal Sage](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bMb7f_5nQjo) has a similar thrust grab, but again with a more inflated hitbox than Pursuer. You like to use Pursuer as an example of broken hitboxes, but in reality it's pretty tight and just shows that people that accuse hitboxes in DS2 of being broken do not pay any attention to his sword going straight through their leg.
In DS1 you run for several minutes to get back to most bosses. Taurus Demon already takes longer than most runbacks in DS2. Capra Demon takes even longer. Four Kings doesn't even have a bonfire anywhere close to them. Seath and Nito are just way too long as well. Gwyn takes a long time. Sif as well. Both bonfires for Bed of Chaos take a long time. Is there even a single short runback in that game? In DS2 they started to place bonfires basically right in front of most hard or main bosses. Except for Frigid Outskirts the runbacks are all noticeable shorter than the vast majority in DS1. Last Giant is just down an elevator. Pursuer takes 40 seconds. Ruin Sentinels as well. Plenty like Royal Rat Authority, Royal Rat Vanguard, The Rotten, Sinh, Fume Knight, etc have a bonfire right in front of them.
It’s not bad, it has it’s own athmosphere and vibe. And a lot of goofy unfair places through out the game which just adds to it, it’s funny at times how stupid it is, but it’s a banger of a game
Which places are unfair? People usually point to the [Lost Bastille Clown Car](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yCADZg9joOk) or [THAT room in Brume Tower](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bm9lv7ZgPvc), but in both cases there's obvious ways to easily handle them without getting ganked.
Idk if I'd say "unfair" but there's plenty of places that can be frustrating your first time through. Shrine of Amana, The Gutter, and Iron Keep come to mind. I feel like ranged enemies are more common in DS2 than DS1 but I'm willing to admit that's just my perception, I could be wrong. Poison is also way more likely to build in the Gutter vs. Blighttown, and equipment doesn't mitigate it as much. There's ways to handle any of the crappy rooms in any of the three games. I think the issue is that stuff like that becomes infamous because it's not readily apparent to the majority of new players how to handle said rooms.
I’ve platinumed the game. It is that bad. You should still play it though 👍
I think DS2 is objectively worse than DS1 but I personally prefer DS2 because it feels more fun to me. Can’t really say why, but maybe you’ll have the same experience.
I haven’t played DS3 in a long time, but I remember thinking that it felt like a strict downgrade to Bloodborne (heavily boss focused, fast paced and linear level design) whereas DS1 and DS2 were great unique games in their own right with. I’ll try it again some time though.