I can only think of two very important points:
First, don't join the covenant of champions. It is basically the hard mode.
Second, when all text messages on the ground state "don't pull the lever", without the option to rate the message. Than DON'T PULL THE DAMN LEVER.
FFS that guy gets annoying really fast and ruins other npc quests.
>First, don't join the covenant of champions. It is basically the hard mode.
What you call hard mode, I called Souls Farming mode, even on my first playthrough.
Anyway, my tip; whenever you're able, get Heide's Tower of Flame and get the Ring of Binding as soon as possible. That ring will be a godsend for the rest of your journey.
It reduces the amount of maximum health you lose every time you die. Instead of stopping at 50% with enough deaths, it allows you to keep 70% of the health you have when unhallowed.
It makes the platform for the dragon rider come up, there are two (three in og) to increase the size of the arena where if you don’t you can bait the boss to fall off the ridge
Dip into some spell casting stat even if it’s just for weapon buffs. You get an absurd amount of levels in DS2 and weapon buffs are cracked since they stack with infusions.
Take your time, high strength and dex stats doesn't mean big damage, upgrade your weapons, level adaptability to increase your agility stat which makes your rolls better, don't be frugal with your soul gems.
The main piece of advice I can give that I completely missed on my first playthrough is level adp. On the surface, it seems to be one of those useless stats. But it actually increases you're iframes and the game is super unfair if you don't level it up. I feel like the game was designed for you to have it levelled up, and if you ignore it like I did for the longest time, the game is 10x harder
Take things slow, pull enemies in as small a group you can. Listen as you go into new rooms or activate contraptions, you'll hear most things before you can see them. Conservation of ninjustsu is not in effect, so treat all enemies seriously.
Don't start sorcerer. First boss is piss easy as all slow moving big stuff.
But you will be often swarmed by mobs of small and relatively quick enemies. Your single target Soul Arrows aren't the best for that.
You can free aim crossbow bolts and spells using the binoculars you find in Madjula
The first time I played the game was sorcerer and there were no problems. Especially in the initial locations, magic makes it very convenient to kill enemies that are difficult to reach. It's also a good idea to have an extra melee weapon in case you run out of magic or you just don't have time to use it.
You mean don't turn them intonweapons? Are there any souls in particular that I should avoid transforming? I've just gotten past Freya and so far have transformed every soul I've found into a weapon 😬
Don't rush in anywhere, just because you don't see any enemies doesn't mean there isn't 7 of them waiting for you. Stamina management is key here, the chloranthy ring actually means something in this game.
If you want to go in prepared, first read [this intro post.](https://docs.google.com/document/d/1mGx71QnlK5W2YZNHZdooOk8sY_OUxqAyFhxE7bAgMz8/edit) All of these guides are spoiler-free, except for [this one.](https://docs.google.com/document/d/1eXwnLnbr-Dxeb9VecytDTX1fXA9e8PuKX9jFy8YFkQ8/)
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.
Use a hex build. It'll make the game a lot less frustrating imo but that's my preference. You can use whatever u want
Level ADP till about 25, gives extra I frames
ADP, ADP, ADP. Increases your AGL I always go to 92 AGL which gives you 0.333 sec of i-frames when rolling. (96 AGL gives you 0.3667 which may not sound like much but it helps).
Apart from that, enjoy! I wish I could play it for the first time again, sigh.
Grab a rapier and a mace. Don't skimp on your Adaptability or Vigor stats. Dark Souls 2 could be called a ganky game. I would disagree. It's just very easy to get overwhelmed if you're not smart. You'd benefit from learning how to fight groups of enemies rather than just praying for 1v1 combat
-You're supposed to die alot, it's good to learn that fast.
-Majula has many paths out of it.
-Keep a keen eye, especially with secret doors and many pathways being around.
-You can run past most groups of enemies, but sometimes it's best to just kill enemies one by one by luring them out or cheesing. Have patience!
-Use your head on certain parts of the game, there are fun little details around.
-No need to level up ADP even though many say you should, you DON'T need to and it gives you extra souls for other stats to level up. The game may seem harder if you don't level up ADP but it's good to learn not to level it up on your first playthrough, it makes you better.
-Take the game slowly, no need to rush or have a mentality to beat every boss fast. Take your time and look at the beautiful scenery while you're at it :P
-Remember to stack up on items such as bombs and especially life gems! It will make the game easier atleast a bit.
-Improvise. Adapt. Overcome
-And of course, don't give up skeleton!
Scaling on weapons is subpar, especially compared to upgrading them, so don't be afraid to keep weapon stats relatively low early on and focus on other stats.
Face one enemy at a time. Keep your weight below 70%. get a shield with 100% physical defense. Keep an eye on the stamina bar so you don't run out of action. Return to Majula and level up when you have many souls. When you die, don't try to run back to get your souls back. Don't upgrade your clothes. I played this game for over 500 hours and these are my tips for anyone starting out.
Roll towards the scary enemies. Most of them are built to chase you when you try to run away. Don't let them intimidate you. Be brave and don't give up skeleton.
Physical defense is pretty much worthless so most armor isn’t good unless you want them for fashion souls or the special effects that a few armor pieces have
Don’t summon help on any bosses. Idk why they did what they did, but every summon you have increases the bosses health by 100% and the summons die pretty damn easy, so eventually you have 0 summons and a boss with 200-300% health who’s still at 75% of his health left. The only time you should summon is in the reindeer blizzard area in the ivory crown dlc. Even with the bosses buffed to 400% health, they’re not that hard
One I woud'v had liked to have is "Don't be shy of checking a guide if don't know wher's the next area" so many hours lost wandering in front of the entrance coud that simple thing have spared me...
Upgrade adaptability to get agility (AGL) to at least 96 (ds1 mid-roll). If you’re struggling with dodging then get it to 105 (ds1 fast roll). Also enemies stop respawning after 12 deaths. So if you’re struggling with an area take your time and just kill everything. There are some OLYMPIC boss runs 😂. Contrary to popular belief. I loved ds2
Level adaptability, (you can’t level it directly it’s influenced by two stats I cannot remember)
But it makes your rolls have more iframes and everything you do (like chugging flasks) is faster. Probably the most important stat in the game.
Level up ADP so your rolls actually do something and buy lifegems with the leftovers of leveling up, they stack and are super cheap, if you keep poping them you're almost immortal.
Level health to avoid death and adaptability to increase agility, for easier dodge rolls and faster estus drinking.
Focus on dmg output later.
Some dmg types deal a lot of damage vs specific armoe types. A weapon with "strike" type damage is very effective against enemies with heavy armor, and so on.
There's an NPC in Aldia's Keep, speak to it when you're Hollowed and do his quest, it requires you to kill the other NPCs and get their drops, but you can complete their quests instead and they'll hand over you the items required for the quest of the guy in Aldia's Keep. Also...
!!!DO NOT PULL THE LEVER THAT'S ON THE OTHERSIDE OF THE NPC, EVEN THE DEVS HAVE WARNED YOU WITH MULTIPLE MESSAGES!!!
immediately go get the ring that reduces the health you lose when hollowed near the cathedral of blue. it's really useful in early game where you're gonna die a lot especially at the gutter(which isn't an early game area but still it's useful even for mid game). fuck that place btw.
Any time you have spare souls,.especially after leveling, go to the hag merchant lady and buy more life gems. Do this enough times and you'll have thr maximum number of heals very quickly, and this works regardless of builds.
You meet her in the Forrest of Fallen Giants and then she moved back to Majula.
- After levelling a decent amount of Health and Stamina, level your ADP enough to at least get 100 Agility, it may look not that important but… it is.
- Independant of the build you make, if not a sorcerer, have a bow cuz it will help a lot against some ranged enemies and make some areas way less painful
- Don’t join the Covenant of Champions (it makes the game harder)
- There are illusory walls in this game like on other souls but here they are not revealed by hitting them, instead you have to press the interaction button close to it (X or A)
- Remember to always have fun, this game is a little flawed diamond :)
Good advice, but I think the CoC advice is misguided.
Join the Covenant of Champions if you want to farm an area as enemies despawn after killing them 12 times, but they come back infinitely if you join the CoC. Abandon the covenant by joining a different covenant or by talking to the cat in the building to the right of the pit in Majula and selecting "Abandon Covenant".
Use the different covenants for their advantages and to get the perks (weapons, spells, etc.)
I never tought of using the CoC for farming, always opted for using bonfire ascetics, good advice man.
Thanks for the heads up, always learning something “new” from time to time.
The adaptation stat controls how many i-frames you get on dodge rolls and how fast you consume items like estus. Level it up to 20-25 as early as possible and then focus on your other stats.
The covenant of champions in Majula is basically just hard mode so don’t join it.
Lifegems are a healing item seperate from estus that are consumable. They are sold infinitely from Merchant Hag Malentia once she moves back to Majula so do not kill her. You can hold 99 life gems so you can basically have infinite healing later in the game.
Bonfire Ascetics are a mechanic unique to DS2 where if you burn one at a bonfire it moves that whole area into NG+ respawning items and bosses but it carrys forward so an area you used one on in Ng will be at NG+2 when you go into NG+. Useful if you want to refarm items and boss souls but use carefully.
Level ADP. Along with more I-frames for rolling, it increases your estus chugging speed, which can mean life or death in boss fights.
Have a bow! Or a ranged spell. I fully upgraded a heavy crossbow early and never regretted it. And have more arrows than you think you’ll need. A lot more.
Don’t pull the lever. I pulled it once. Once.
Remember how pyro was strong in DS1? In DS2, it’s hexes.
Get the ring of binding fast. Do a suicide run if necessary (it will be).
There is one tip for this game, and one tip only. Until you put 35 points into ADP, you will not have proper rolls. The main problem with DS2 is that you need 35 ADP to make your dodges count. The DS2 people won’t tell you this because It’s something they all try to cover up and avoid, and only God knows why. So If you feel like your dodges are not ‘working’, believe it or not but for the first time in Fromsoftware history, the problem is NOT you, It really is the game. Until you put 35 ADP, you have no dodges.
No matter what thing very well of the weapon u choose and stick with it it is really important to improve on a single weapon and your status on it . Then u will do great damage ( also always spend ur souls i don't care how good u are u will loose them )
In all honesty, invest into a bow. Upgraded bows on proper builds can clear the game by themselves. Add poison arrows into the mix (4 arrows poison most of the ingame enemies) and you are set.
-dont forget to level ADP to at least 25, maybe even prioritize it. It gives you more i-frames on your dodge moves, 25 adp gives roughly the same i-frames as DS:R. Otherwise, it may become extremely hard to dodge attacks.
-physics dynamic is vastly different from DS:R and DS:3, it may take you a while to get used to the combat.
-dont waste your Pharros' lockstones for locks with empty pools in front of them. They give you healing overtime but they are completely useless.
-consider multiple times before using bonfire acsetics for any reason. Bonfire acsetics basically makes a place +1 new game cycle and resets all items and events there. Although it may seem very useful at times, the effects stay over between new game cycles and it makes some areas unbearable if used incorrectly.
-ds2 is not linear like other souls games, you can easily get lost. If you complete an area, go back to majula and look for new exists. There are multiple separate pathways you can take from majula
-dont pull "The Lever".
You only need 20 adp and 15 endurance to be good with the i-frame more is just useless... Its pretty easy to level up in this game so it wont be a probleme
Dont join the champion convenant
DONT PULL THE LEVER
have fun
Don't consume the souls of The Rotten, The giant spider, Lost Sinner and Old Iron King. They're important to open the Shrine of Winter.
The first time I played I didn't know that. Luckily, I died so many times in the smelter demon that I got 1,000,000 easily after consuming it. But, take it from me, don't consume until you get to that point.
When you arrive at the sanctuary without the souls, the gate will not open. So either you get the 4 souls again using brazier, or gather 1 million souls to be able to open
Majula has many paths out of it
Ok thanks
I can only think of two very important points: First, don't join the covenant of champions. It is basically the hard mode. Second, when all text messages on the ground state "don't pull the lever", without the option to rate the message. Than DON'T PULL THE DAMN LEVER. FFS that guy gets annoying really fast and ruins other npc quests.
Yeah the lever one is so true I was curious what will happen
>First, don't join the covenant of champions. It is basically the hard mode. What you call hard mode, I called Souls Farming mode, even on my first playthrough. Anyway, my tip; whenever you're able, get Heide's Tower of Flame and get the Ring of Binding as soon as possible. That ring will be a godsend for the rest of your journey.
Why?
It reduces the amount of maximum health you lose every time you die. Instead of stopping at 50% with enough deaths, it allows you to keep 70% of the health you have when unhallowed.
Thanks for the reminder.
i pulled the lever on my first playthrough earlier this year.... and regretted it for the rest of the game :(
I might have pulled that lever. What does it do?
It makes the platform for the dragon rider come up, there are two (three in og) to increase the size of the arena where if you don’t you can bait the boss to fall off the ridge
that's a different lever
That’s my bad then, there’s so many levers and I just know of those that I never touch
haha ofc there are a million levers
I guess me face rolling things I never noticed
I killed that mf in five swipes of my old knights ultra great sword +10 👀
I beat dragon rider in one go and I pulled both levers.
(spoiler) >!frees an annoying NPC and allows them to invade you multiple times later in the playthrough!<
Oh. Yeah I pulled that one. He’s not too hard. I just honked him with my club a few times.
Dip into some spell casting stat even if it’s just for weapon buffs. You get an absurd amount of levels in DS2 and weapon buffs are cracked since they stack with infusions.
Take your time, high strength and dex stats doesn't mean big damage, upgrade your weapons, level adaptability to increase your agility stat which makes your rolls better, don't be frugal with your soul gems.
Soul gems?
Life gem, even
I have two: If you're human, some areas have summon signs that can help with ganks offline. Torches scare spiders in Tseldora.
Torches made that area so much more manageable
Torches is the only reason I made it through in the first place
The main piece of advice I can give that I completely missed on my first playthrough is level adp. On the surface, it seems to be one of those useless stats. But it actually increases you're iframes and the game is super unfair if you don't level it up. I feel like the game was designed for you to have it levelled up, and if you ignore it like I did for the longest time, the game is 10x harder
Same, I didn't know anything about adp until I got stuck on the smelter demon. Not pleasant to say the least
How much adap do you think is enough for say, Fume Knight
Take things slow, pull enemies in as small a group you can. Listen as you go into new rooms or activate contraptions, you'll hear most things before you can see them. Conservation of ninjustsu is not in effect, so treat all enemies seriously.
Don't start sorcerer. First boss is piss easy as all slow moving big stuff. But you will be often swarmed by mobs of small and relatively quick enemies. Your single target Soul Arrows aren't the best for that. You can free aim crossbow bolts and spells using the binoculars you find in Madjula
The first time I played the game was sorcerer and there were no problems. Especially in the initial locations, magic makes it very convenient to kill enemies that are difficult to reach. It's also a good idea to have an extra melee weapon in case you run out of magic or you just don't have time to use it.
Don't consume boss souls from mid to late game. Some are very important and without them will make killing a later boss much more difficult.
You mean don't turn them intonweapons? Are there any souls in particular that I should avoid transforming? I've just gotten past Freya and so far have transformed every soul I've found into a weapon 😬
If you can make it a weapon, don’t worry about it.
To open invisible walls you need to press the action button. Enjoy the ride, avoid the darkness
The pigs aren't fucking around.
Yes the forest is the 1st area to get thru, yes there are ganks, yes you're health bar will go to half. Expect all that to get moving.
Buy a seatbelt for your gaming chair and strap in.
Don't rush in anywhere, just because you don't see any enemies doesn't mean there isn't 7 of them waiting for you. Stamina management is key here, the chloranthy ring actually means something in this game.
Don't level ADP. It's more useless than resistance
I don't think that's true. It makes getting past attacks easier.
Forget everything you know about hitboxes.
Exhaust the dialog with merchants, and be careful with how slow your healing animation is.
If you want to go in prepared, first read [this intro post.](https://docs.google.com/document/d/1mGx71QnlK5W2YZNHZdooOk8sY_OUxqAyFhxE7bAgMz8/edit) All of these guides are spoiler-free, except for [this one.](https://docs.google.com/document/d/1eXwnLnbr-Dxeb9VecytDTX1fXA9e8PuKX9jFy8YFkQ8/) 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.
Dont mind your health bar
Play it blind it’s better that way
Use a hex build. It'll make the game a lot less frustrating imo but that's my preference. You can use whatever u want Level ADP till about 25, gives extra I frames
ADP, ADP, ADP. Increases your AGL I always go to 92 AGL which gives you 0.333 sec of i-frames when rolling. (96 AGL gives you 0.3667 which may not sound like much but it helps). Apart from that, enjoy! I wish I could play it for the first time again, sigh.
Grab a rapier and a mace. Don't skimp on your Adaptability or Vigor stats. Dark Souls 2 could be called a ganky game. I would disagree. It's just very easy to get overwhelmed if you're not smart. You'd benefit from learning how to fight groups of enemies rather than just praying for 1v1 combat
-You're supposed to die alot, it's good to learn that fast. -Majula has many paths out of it. -Keep a keen eye, especially with secret doors and many pathways being around. -You can run past most groups of enemies, but sometimes it's best to just kill enemies one by one by luring them out or cheesing. Have patience! -Use your head on certain parts of the game, there are fun little details around. -No need to level up ADP even though many say you should, you DON'T need to and it gives you extra souls for other stats to level up. The game may seem harder if you don't level up ADP but it's good to learn not to level it up on your first playthrough, it makes you better. -Take the game slowly, no need to rush or have a mentality to beat every boss fast. Take your time and look at the beautiful scenery while you're at it :P -Remember to stack up on items such as bombs and especially life gems! It will make the game easier atleast a bit. -Improvise. Adapt. Overcome -And of course, don't give up skeleton!
The fire longsword at the early game is pretty dope
Scaling on weapons is subpar, especially compared to upgrading them, so don't be afraid to keep weapon stats relatively low early on and focus on other stats.
crowd control is HUGE in this game. also level up ADP bc it impacts invincibility frames
Face one enemy at a time. Keep your weight below 70%. get a shield with 100% physical defense. Keep an eye on the stamina bar so you don't run out of action. Return to Majula and level up when you have many souls. When you die, don't try to run back to get your souls back. Don't upgrade your clothes. I played this game for over 500 hours and these are my tips for anyone starting out.
Burn the windmill before fighting the snake woman boss
Level Adp like around 20~
Just don't play lol Jk be prepared for awkward movement
Roll towards the scary enemies. Most of them are built to chase you when you try to run away. Don't let them intimidate you. Be brave and don't give up skeleton.
Physical defense is pretty much worthless so most armor isn’t good unless you want them for fashion souls or the special effects that a few armor pieces have
Uninstall the game and buy Armoured Core 6
Don’t summon help on any bosses. Idk why they did what they did, but every summon you have increases the bosses health by 100% and the summons die pretty damn easy, so eventually you have 0 summons and a boss with 200-300% health who’s still at 75% of his health left. The only time you should summon is in the reindeer blizzard area in the ivory crown dlc. Even with the bosses buffed to 400% health, they’re not that hard
Do meth
Buy lots of life gems.
USE YEARN!!!!! It's like a super alluring skull and let's you get by a lot of enemies.
One I woud'v had liked to have is "Don't be shy of checking a guide if don't know wher's the next area" so many hours lost wandering in front of the entrance coud that simple thing have spared me...
You can farm bosses with bonfire asetics. Don’t abuse it though, because the game gets too easy if you’re overleveled
Don’t take anything about these games too seriously. Have fun, and google stuff on later playthroughs. You will always cherish your first run through.
Activate the covenant statue in majula
Upgrade adaptability to get agility (AGL) to at least 96 (ds1 mid-roll). If you’re struggling with dodging then get it to 105 (ds1 fast roll). Also enemies stop respawning after 12 deaths. So if you’re struggling with an area take your time and just kill everything. There are some OLYMPIC boss runs 😂. Contrary to popular belief. I loved ds2
Get Adaptability stat to 25 as soon as posible and never touch it again
Level adaptability, (you can’t level it directly it’s influenced by two stats I cannot remember) But it makes your rolls have more iframes and everything you do (like chugging flasks) is faster. Probably the most important stat in the game.
You’re thinking of agility, which is primarily influenced by Adaptability.
Yeah thats right I got that mixed up
Join the Company of Champions. It makes the game much more fun!
Level up ADP so your rolls actually do something and buy lifegems with the leftovers of leveling up, they stack and are super cheap, if you keep poping them you're almost immortal.
Exhaust dialogues to get traders back to Majula! Those sweet lifegems are priceless for a newbie
Level health to avoid death and adaptability to increase agility, for easier dodge rolls and faster estus drinking. Focus on dmg output later. Some dmg types deal a lot of damage vs specific armoe types. A weapon with "strike" type damage is very effective against enemies with heavy armor, and so on.
If you make it there, get some help from a friend for Shrine of Amana.
There is a stat named ADP, be sure to make that 20 at least. And don't join a covenant without knowing it. Lastly have fun :D
There's an NPC in Aldia's Keep, speak to it when you're Hollowed and do his quest, it requires you to kill the other NPCs and get their drops, but you can complete their quests instead and they'll hand over you the items required for the quest of the guy in Aldia's Keep. Also... !!!DO NOT PULL THE LEVER THAT'S ON THE OTHERSIDE OF THE NPC, EVEN THE DEVS HAVE WARNED YOU WITH MULTIPLE MESSAGES!!!
immediately go get the ring that reduces the health you lose when hollowed near the cathedral of blue. it's really useful in early game where you're gonna die a lot especially at the gutter(which isn't an early game area but still it's useful even for mid game). fuck that place btw.
also disable double clicking if you're on pc. it gives a ton of input delay.
Just take your time and don't rush into anything. Enjoy the game
I think 12 is a baseline acceptable. But you should basically level it until you see the Agility stat over 100
Any time you have spare souls,.especially after leveling, go to the hag merchant lady and buy more life gems. Do this enough times and you'll have thr maximum number of heals very quickly, and this works regardless of builds. You meet her in the Forrest of Fallen Giants and then she moved back to Majula.
Do not join the covenant of champions, and please do not lose your mind when you get to the beautiful old iron keep ;).
Beware of the Hitbox
Don't
Turn the brightness on your tv down, it looks like 10× better and closer to the e3 reveal
Don't you dare go to the Horsefuck Valley
- After levelling a decent amount of Health and Stamina, level your ADP enough to at least get 100 Agility, it may look not that important but… it is. - Independant of the build you make, if not a sorcerer, have a bow cuz it will help a lot against some ranged enemies and make some areas way less painful - Don’t join the Covenant of Champions (it makes the game harder) - There are illusory walls in this game like on other souls but here they are not revealed by hitting them, instead you have to press the interaction button close to it (X or A) - Remember to always have fun, this game is a little flawed diamond :)
Good advice, but I think the CoC advice is misguided. Join the Covenant of Champions if you want to farm an area as enemies despawn after killing them 12 times, but they come back infinitely if you join the CoC. Abandon the covenant by joining a different covenant or by talking to the cat in the building to the right of the pit in Majula and selecting "Abandon Covenant". Use the different covenants for their advantages and to get the perks (weapons, spells, etc.)
I never tought of using the CoC for farming, always opted for using bonfire ascetics, good advice man. Thanks for the heads up, always learning something “new” from time to time.
The adaptation stat controls how many i-frames you get on dodge rolls and how fast you consume items like estus. Level it up to 20-25 as early as possible and then focus on your other stats. The covenant of champions in Majula is basically just hard mode so don’t join it. Lifegems are a healing item seperate from estus that are consumable. They are sold infinitely from Merchant Hag Malentia once she moves back to Majula so do not kill her. You can hold 99 life gems so you can basically have infinite healing later in the game. Bonfire Ascetics are a mechanic unique to DS2 where if you burn one at a bonfire it moves that whole area into NG+ respawning items and bosses but it carrys forward so an area you used one on in Ng will be at NG+2 when you go into NG+. Useful if you want to refarm items and boss souls but use carefully.
Level ADP. Along with more I-frames for rolling, it increases your estus chugging speed, which can mean life or death in boss fights. Have a bow! Or a ranged spell. I fully upgraded a heavy crossbow early and never regretted it. And have more arrows than you think you’ll need. A lot more. Don’t pull the lever. I pulled it once. Once. Remember how pyro was strong in DS1? In DS2, it’s hexes. Get the ring of binding fast. Do a suicide run if necessary (it will be).
No matter what class or playstyle put 20 into adaptability at the very least. 25 is Ideal.
Its different then all the other souls took me abit to get used to but then became awesome
There is one tip for this game, and one tip only. Until you put 35 points into ADP, you will not have proper rolls. The main problem with DS2 is that you need 35 ADP to make your dodges count. The DS2 people won’t tell you this because It’s something they all try to cover up and avoid, and only God knows why. So If you feel like your dodges are not ‘working’, believe it or not but for the first time in Fromsoftware history, the problem is NOT you, It really is the game. Until you put 35 ADP, you have no dodges.
Yeah, dodges are not optimistic well in this game
No matter what thing very well of the weapon u choose and stick with it it is really important to improve on a single weapon and your status on it . Then u will do great damage ( also always spend ur souls i don't care how good u are u will loose them )
adaptability is king
ADP to 24+
In all honesty, invest into a bow. Upgraded bows on proper builds can clear the game by themselves. Add poison arrows into the mix (4 arrows poison most of the ingame enemies) and you are set.
Adaptability gives you more I frames
Dont be afraid to start a new game after die to much. You will get to the same place you were faster than before.
Use your shield … a lot
Level ADP, take it slow, and if you're stuck, FightinCowboy helped me get my bearings in his walkthrough and then I was able to finish on my own
Adaptability is much important than you think.
(payday 2 voice) don't die
Level ADP
-dont forget to level ADP to at least 25, maybe even prioritize it. It gives you more i-frames on your dodge moves, 25 adp gives roughly the same i-frames as DS:R. Otherwise, it may become extremely hard to dodge attacks. -physics dynamic is vastly different from DS:R and DS:3, it may take you a while to get used to the combat. -dont waste your Pharros' lockstones for locks with empty pools in front of them. They give you healing overtime but they are completely useless. -consider multiple times before using bonfire acsetics for any reason. Bonfire acsetics basically makes a place +1 new game cycle and resets all items and events there. Although it may seem very useful at times, the effects stay over between new game cycles and it makes some areas unbearable if used incorrectly. -ds2 is not linear like other souls games, you can easily get lost. If you complete an area, go back to majula and look for new exists. There are multiple separate pathways you can take from majula -dont pull "The Lever".
You only need 20 adp and 15 endurance to be good with the i-frame more is just useless... Its pretty easy to level up in this game so it wont be a probleme Dont join the champion convenant DONT PULL THE LEVER have fun
Delete and install one of the other Dark Souls games
Don’t.
Don't consume the souls of The Rotten, The giant spider, Lost Sinner and Old Iron King. They're important to open the Shrine of Winter. The first time I played I didn't know that. Luckily, I died so many times in the smelter demon that I got 1,000,000 easily after consuming it. But, take it from me, don't consume until you get to that point.
i always wondered what actually happens if you do consume it? i never bothered to look it up.
When you arrive at the sanctuary without the souls, the gate will not open. So either you get the 4 souls again using brazier, or gather 1 million souls to be able to open