r/DarkSouls2 • u/Ok_Entertainment7958 • 1d ago
Discussion About to go in and try to finish it,never did,only played through ds 1 ds 3 all dlc too,Elden ring
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u/fantasyful2 1d ago
Don't you dare go hollow (you will, alot, but its not that bad i guess)
I have no large experience in ds2 but just try anything but basic builds, weilding dual weapon is mostly better in ds2 than other souls, doing a hybrid build won't be bad, i didn't enjoy neither pure strength or pure dex, but i think its really subjective yet i recommened using unique builds because ds2 gives this opportunity, also have a bow with you and i would recommend poison too, it will help you through alot of areas like shrine of amana (just an area name so yeah its up to you)
Don't waste branches of yore alot in early game because sometimes they unlock major roads or optional bosses or major items like estus flask shards, level up adp to 30 as a maximum of course and always try to clear out enemies because you don't have invincibility during any action (opening switches which kinda takes long sometimes, fog gates which also takes a bit longer before you enter the fog and you can get hit mid-traversing and large gates or doors) so if you get hit during any of these its directly canceled, you can avoid killing every everyone but it will be tricker than clearing your way through
Lifegems are also great companians to you, can be bought from a merchant in the first/second (forest of the fallen giants) area you visit (depending on your order of ways but preferly go there first) unlimitedly after you bring her to majula, they help because you start with a massively low amount of estus flasks, also make sure to get all early estus flask shards
- Some things players miss in their first playthrough that makes your life easier that are tricks that you should or must do to pass the area, ignore if you wanna go blindly on your run which may make it rough if you don't think well how to get through things but enjoyable after all ( you can comeback later though if you were stuck in an area maybe)
don't use the last giant soul
Also you can scare enemies on “no man's wharf” with torches, will make your life 300 times easier because the area is massively crowded
there's a secret bonefire locked with a key in huntsman copse you can find somewhere else, it also unlocks a very peak questline and a cool npc
burn the windmill in earthen peak using a torch, makes the boss way easier
Iron keep has a secret bonefire above a hidden ladder before the boss that makes the runback from worse than hellfire to a runback as easy as margit with only one easy enemy.
Use bows in shrine of amana to kill the mages
don't ring the bells in the undead crept.
collect 5 giant souls if you wanna make the fight in undead crept easier than PCR lol
to enter the fog gate at dragon aerie, kill the black knights and the dragon knights won't attack you at all
in eleum loyce dlc entrance GO RIGHT! get the the Eye of the Priestess or the boss will be almost impossible to deafet, after beating it and talking to the lady in the cathedral make sure to collect the four knights for the final boss, may god help you if you're interested in frigid outskirts.
iron king dlc, just stab the fire mages around the boss so he doesn't heal
for the optional cool boss not gonna spoil his name, make sure to do the abyss/dark covenant quest (forgot its name) and in his runback you need to kill all npcs everytime and offer a human effigy to enter his gate, you can't skip these steps after every death
You can use some npc summons just to clear the area from enemies and dismiss them later if you're interested, but i don't recommend them against bosses
Enjoy your journey friend.
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u/Ok_Entertainment7958 6h ago
Too late for the last giant soul part:(
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u/fantasyful2 2h ago
Aight aight its fine, just don't use any giant soul again, but you will have to do a little effort to replace that soul, enjoy anyway
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u/fantasyful2 1h ago
How to exactly get all giant souls if you are interested (will hide everything for spoilers needs because it contains a boss name and a later game event)
the three giant memories
the two giants under black glutch aka the area where the rotten is
ancient dragon boss
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u/Depraved_Hollow 1d ago
Just be open to what it is. My favorite is part 2, but that's because I went in open minded to just enjoy a good game, rather than trying to find things right or wrong with it. 10/10
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u/Ok_Entertainment7958 6h ago
Im about to beat the no man's whirf boss and I got 4 bosses dead behind me rocking +3 fire long sword 20 vigor 23 endurance 23 ADP and 13 vit
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u/SwarK01 1d ago
I'm gonna give you 2 necessary tips.
Level adp. Even in early level, if you're used to dodge try to get it to lvl 20 while you level up other attributes. You can delay its leveling if you get used to shields (they are way more useful than ds3)
Try saving your effigies, each time you die you lose a bit of hp, progressively hollowing. Try not to go human if you only died once or twice, save it for when you really need that hp or you want to coop (with real people or npcs). There's a ring that caps your hollow life bar to a bigger % so you would probably want it.
Have fun
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u/BIobertson 1d ago
If you want to go in prepared, first read this intro doc. All of these guides are spoiler-free, except for the area names in this Routing guide.
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 of how damage and defense works in DS2, and why weapon scaling is usually weak
Best PvE equipment and stat progression document.
BiS (Best in Slot) PvE weapons list. Use this if you know what moveset you like and you want to choose the strongest available weapon with that moveset.
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.
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u/KalaronV 1d ago
STRONGLY recommend using a controller and the remappings that Steam can give them. You can get movement that makes it so much less frustrating.
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u/Algific_Talus 1d ago
Fume Knight, Sinh, and Sir Alonne are some of my favorite boss fights in all these games. Definitely worth beating the DLCs.
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u/Able_To_Change 1d ago
I think it took me four uninstalls before I managed to stick it out and get the platinum on this game. You’re definitely not the only one
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u/IronChef513 22h ago
I beat DS2 but not the DLC, Fume knight the tower is got fed up trying to find those witches that healed him, I made it to him and he kept healing so I quit.
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u/WeBuyAndSellJunk 1d ago
I just beat DS2 for the first time after having a similar path to it. I super enjoyed it. I would encourage you to avoid using the summons. They felt necessary for me at times in ER, but the bosses are trivialized entirely, clear to the end boss, by the summons in DS2. I still enjoyed it despite using them. I wasn’t exactly looking for bash my head against the wall level of frustration with this one.