_ .-') _ ('-. _ .-') .-') _ .-') ( ( OO) ) _( OO)( '.( OO )_ ( OO ) ),--. ( OO ). \ .'_ (,------.,--. ,--.).-'),-----. ,--./ ,--,' \ |(_)---\_) ,`'--..._) | .---'| `.' |( OO' .-. '| \ | |\ `-'/ _ | | | \ ' | | | |/ | | | || \| | ) \ :` `. | | ' |(| '--. | |'.'| |\_) | |\| || . |/ '..`''.) | | / : | .--' | | | | \ | | | || |\ | .-._) \ | '--' / | `---.| | | | `' '-' '| | \ | \ / `-------' `------'`--' `--' `-----' `--' `--' `-----' .-') .-') ( OO ). ( OO ). (_)---\_) .-'),-----. ,--. ,--. ,--. (_)---\_) / _ | ( OO' .-. ' | | | | | |.-') / _ | \ :` `. / | | | | | | | .-') | | OO )\ :` `. '..`''.)\_) | |\| | | |_|( OO ) | |`-' | '..`''.) .-._) \ \ | | | | | | | `-' /(| '---.'.-._) \ \ / `' '-' '(' '-'(_.-' | | \ / `-----' `-----' `-----' `------' `-----' _ (`-') (`-') _ (`-') \-.(OO ) _(OO ) \-.(OO ) _.' \,--.(_/,-.\ _.' \ (_...--''\ \ / (_/(_...--'' | |_.' | \ / / | |_.' | | .___.'_ \ /_)| .___.' | | \-'\ / | | `--' `-' `--' _-_- , -_-/ , |\ /, _ || (_ / || _ \\ || < \, _-_, =||= (_ --_ =||= < \, \\/\\ / \\ ~|| /-|| ||_. || --_ ) || /-|| || || || || || (( || ~ || || _/ )) || (( || || || || || ( -__, \/\\ ,-_- \\, (_-_- \\, \/\\ \\ \\ \\/ ,- _~, |\ , (' /| / \\ ' || ' (( ||/= / \\ \\ =||= \\ /'\\ \\/\\ (( || || || || || || || || || || ( / | || || || || || || || || || Plus. -____- \\/ \\ \\, \\ \\,/ \\ \\ ------------ Version 1.51 ------------ --------------------------------------------- Build, PvP, and Strategy Guide (version 1.51) --------------------------------------------- ----------------- The Contributors: ----------------- The players below have transcribed the game of duelling, and as such, garner all due accolades such as the rights to your girlfriends and any food you may have. - VarietyX/Damoene, ggDoom/Marth Player, and TMRaven were the largest contributors. Without them I never would have made it through all seven versions of this guide. - Nick1Nintendo - NOSCOPEHERO/Troider - HIM - Rhzkao - Mo_Food - True_Remembrence - The Moonlight Knight - TheDeadsider - Garl_Vinand (of GameFAQs) - Throwmasta - Aneed4speed - God's Poison - Meralonne - Haagar the Horrible - Special thanks to Mud Chan for the calculator. - Special thanks to Oscilet for the help with testing. - Special thanks to Denis Jr. for coming over with coffee for those DS sessions. Good luck with the kidlet chief. Also Wikidot has composed a large build library that I advise you to take a look at. Its quality stuff with some gag builds, and it’s tended to quite often, so if you want up-to-date builds, head on over: http://forums.demonssouls.info/viewtopic.php?f=16&t=8457 Thanks to all those who submitted builds for Wikidot. Versions Information - Version 1.0: Guide completed. - Version 1.1: Small cosmetic changes. Some fixed errors. - Version 1.2: Small cosmetic changes. Updated Legality (0099). Updated "Stunlock" section with Claw/Knuckle push-lock (0009). Small update on "Spears" (0030). Small update on "Katanas" (0023). Updated introduction to "Understanding Stats" (0001). New section "PvP Morality" added (0098). - Version 1.3 Small cosmetic changes. Large update on "Warding Versus Second Chance" (0016). New Section "PvP Rings" added (00RG). Added more ASCII art. - Version 1.4 Numerous minor updates and revisions. New Builds: 5-Slot Dexterity, 5-Slot Strength, Dragon/Makoto Gouge, Luckless BBS, iCat Light Weapon MC. Legality Changes. Large BS section updates/revisions. Large Parrying in PvP section updates/revisions. New Section "Push Lock/Stun Breaking" (0018.i) added. New Section "Counter Hit" (00CH) added. New Section "Setup Parry Series" (0019.iv) added. New Section "PvP Casting" (0021) added. New Section "Cheating and You" added (CHEA). Several Weapon section updates (Rapier Redub, BBS/Straight Sword Redub) and minor updates added. More people thanked, more ASCII art. - Version 1.5/1.51 (Last Stand Edition Plus 1.51) *Most weapon combos were added and confirmed.* Large amount of trimming of several pieces. General revision. Fixed up numbering. No more weirdly numbered sections using characters for shortcuts. Removed most of old duping section. Added Thomas Dupe. Removed weapon sections with outlining discussions. Added simple swing analysis. Removed old spell discussion. Added Toggle/Pivot cast, and revised spell discussions. Fixed up BS section. Better descriptions on techniques. More ASCII as per usual. Finally did a "Claw/Knuckle" outline. Simplified stealth section to include just a few tips instead of a lengthy dissection. Simplified build discussions. Added an impromptu Legend. Ring section moved. Added Dead-Angle/Cross-Up section (0026). Added Discussion on shield evasion (0026.i). *The weapon combos in the weapon section were tested on multiple occasions by me and some others (notably Oscilet). Some were very precise making even a small mistake in regards to timing caused failures. I noted the ones that had incredibly low failure rates if done correctly. I also didn't include any Fireball combos and missed some weapon swings to Ignite. "Combos" themselves I restricted to any series of moves that could not be roll escaped, since if done correctly Toggle Escape would reduce all but 2 combos to essentially 1-hit. ------------------- ===FINAL VERSION=== ------------------------------- ===A Message To The Faithful=== ------------------------------------------ ===THANK YOU FOR YOUR CONTINUED SUPPORT=== ------------------------------------------ _, __, __, , _ _, _,_ _ _, _ __, _, __, _,_ _, _, _,_ _, _, (_ |_ |_ \ | / \ | | | |\ | | \ / \ |_) |_/ (_ / \ | | | (_ , ) | | \| \ / | | | | \| |_/ |~| | \ | \ , ) \ / | | | , , ) ~ ~~~ ~~~ ) ~ `~' ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ `~' ~~~ ~ ~' ------------ ===Umbasa=== ------------ - EWGF --------- Contents: --------- (0000) - Introduction, and about this guide, and legend (0001) - Understanding Stats (0002) - Strength-Based Builds (0003) - Dexterity-Based Builds (0004) - Faith-Based Builds: a variable primer (0005) - Blueblood Sword builds (0006) – Northern Regalia Builds (0007) - Meat Cleaver Builds (0008) – Magic-Based Builds: a variable primer ------------------------------------------ Non-Specific Build Information and Basics: ------------------------------------------ (0009) - What is “Stunlock”? (0010) - Talisman of Beasts: the best item in Demon's Souls? (0011) - Freke is not your friend: Steal From Him (Spell Hijack) (0012) - Character Tendency and You (0013) - Thomas, a Generous Soul: Duping and Other Amusements ------------ Comparisons: ------------ (0014) - Shield Basics (0015) - Rings (0016) - Weapon Buffs (Curse versus Light Weapon) (0017) - Warding versus Second Chance: Which and Why? (0018) - Negative Status (Plague vs. Poison vs. Bleed) (0019) - Counter Hit (the Demon's Souls Critical System) ----------- Techniques: ----------- (0020) - Off-hand Katana/dual wielding (0021) - Push/Stun Breaking (0022) - Parrying in PvP: Setup Parries & Blind Parries: a brief primer (0022.i) - Setup Parries & Notes (0022.ii) - Blind Parries (0022.iii) - A few final notes on parries (0022.iv) - Setup Parry Series (0023) - Backstabs: a brief primer (0023.i) - Pivot BS (0023.ii) – Locked/Running BS (0023.iii) – Rolling BS (0023.iv) – Counter BS (0023.v) - Original Counter BS (BS Reversal) by True R. (0023.vi) - A few final notes on back-stabs (0024) - Roll Punishing (0025) - Pivot Casting, Toggle Casting/Instant Cast and Spell Usage w/ Nick1Nintendo. (0025.i) Soul Ray (0025.ii) Fireball (0025.iii) Ignite (0025.iv) Firestorm (0025.v) Firespray (0025.vi) Homing Soul Arrow (0026) - Cross-Up/Dead-Angle (attacking through shields) (0026.i) - Cross-Up/Dead-Angle Part 2 (Turtle Killer) w/ ggDoom. (0027) Stealth in PvP: a Brief Discussion, w/ Meralonne and God's Poison. --------------- Weapon Primers: --------------- (0028) - Great Axes/Blunts (0029) - Poles (0030) - Asian Swords (0031) - Large Swords (0032) - Katana (0033) - Rapiers (0034) - 1-Handed Swords/Blunts/Axes (0035) - Daggers (0036) - Spears (0037) - Claws/Fist Weapons (0039) - Great Swords (0098) - Friendship and You (0099) - Guide FAQ & Legality & Other Stuff ___ ___ ___ ___ /__/\ ___ / /\ / /\ / /\ \ \:\ / /\ / /::\ / /::\ / /:/ \ \:\ / /:/ / /:/\:\ / /:/\:\ /__/::\ _____\__\:\ / /:/ / /:/~/:/ / /:/ \:\ \__\/\:\__ /__/::::::::\ / /::\ /__/:/ /:/___ /__/:/ \__\:\ \ \:\/\ \ \:\~~\~~\/ /__/:/\:\ \ \:\/:::::/ \ \:\ / /:/ \__\::/ \ \:\ ~~~ \__\/ \:\ \ \::/~~~~ \ \:\ /:/ /__/:/ \ \:\ \ \:\ \ \:\ \ \:\/:/ \__\/ \ \:\ \__\/ \ \:\ \ \::/ \__\/ \__\/ \__\/ ------------------------------------------------- ===(0000) - Introduction, and about this guide=== ------------------------------------------------- "It is far harder to kill a Phantom than a Reality." - Virginia Woolf, The Death of the Moth and Other Essays Welcome to my guide! Here is a brief intro before we get started. Enjoy! -------------------------------------------------------------- Q: What should I know about Demon's Souls before reading this? -------------------------------------------------------------- A: You should have a competent grasp on game mechanics. I explain most stuff in some degree of depth, however, you should still know what a Parry is, or what a Push is. You should know about Character Tendency, World Tendency, Eye Stones, etc. You should also know how to get stuff. I'm not including farming info, the locations of weapons, or anything like that. That stuff is outside the jurisdictions of this guide, and are readily available in quite a few places on the web. Also, all builds are aimed at the 120 level. This is where the sternest level of PvP takes place. You can make proper adjustments to go higher or lower depending on your needs. 125 is now considered the standard PvP cap. As a side-note, generally if you plan on playing in body form, you can go quite a bit higher and still keep your PvP steady. The same rules apply for a Red Eye Stones. If invading, your SL likely shouldn't exceed 120 due to the fact you can only invade players of a higher Soul Level. I play on SL 110 characters, and I can invade into 4-1 basically 24/7. There are a several terms that are not intuitive, and may require some investigation on your part. It doesn’t help that there are no set terms for techniques/states in this game (unlike say modern fighting games which DS does share some traits with). This can make things a little confusing when traversing forums and the web. I've included a brief legend in this introduction. ----------------------------------------------------------------------- Q: This guide is big. How the heck can I find what I want in this mess? ----------------------------------------------------------------------- A: Ctrl +F There's a table of contents, and almost everything is coded by a bracketed number. Punch it into the search function to quickly and easily find what you need. ----------------- Simplified Legend ----------------- There are a lot of terms in this game relative to PvP. Some are intuitive, some are not. You will find as you read this guide from end to end it becomes increasingly cryptic. This is not chosen by design, but it allows me to express my ideas quickly. Here are a few things that will carry you pretty far in regards to the contents of this guide. WD = While dashing. Context is generally in regards to executing a move. WD R1 means the special while-dashing R1 attack. Moves are stance sensitive. WR = While rolling. Context is generally in regards to executing a move. WR R1 means the special while-rolling R1 attack. Moves are stance sensitive. WB = While blocking. Context is generally in regards to executing a move. WB R1 means the special while-blocking R1 attack. Moves are not stance sensitive, as they require a shield and are thus 1-handed. Only Spear/Rapiers are capable of WBs. ">" = Chain inputs. Context is generally in regards to executing a series of attacks that may or may not combo. R1 > R1 > R1 would imply three R1 swings in rapid succession. "/" = Either or. Context is generally in regards to a choice with two successful outcomes that may be executed. R1 > R1 > R1/R2 would imply two R1 swings in rapid succession and a 3rd consecutive attack that can be either a R1 or an R2. f+R1/Push/Shove. Any move performed by pressing a direction on the analog stick and R1 at the same time. Generally a non-damaging push attack that staggers. However certain weapons have special attacks from this input. Pushes landed with every non-Curse enchant will deal damage. Hit-Stun/Stun. The stun against an enemy awarded for landing a successful attack, and for certain weapons guaranteeing the following attack may land. Hit-Stun varies by attack. Often called "stagger". CH = Counter-Hit/Critical-Hit. Any attack landed while the opponent is dashing, in guard break, in a "pushed" state, rolling, or attacking themselves. Provides 38%-42% more damage on average, and can affect stun length. Applies to BSes, ripostes, slash, and spells. Essentially all attacks are eligible. Hyper/Hyper Armor. An attack that is uninterrupted by normal means, and any hit landed against a Hyper Armor attack will not provide Hit Stun. Generally large weapons like Great Axes and Great Swords provide the most Hyper Armor attacks. Hyper Armor attacks largely cannot be Parried. Phantom Range. A characteristic of any attack/weapon in which a hit is possible despite appearing to narrowly miss an opponent's Hit Box. A product of lag resulting in miscalculated hit detection. Generally some weapons and weapon swings are more capable of this than others. Phantom Hit. Any hit resulting from Phantom Range. KB. Knockback. Any move that knocks an opponent down. Comes in two types: "Flings" and "Grounds". Flings will knock an opponent away, and Grounds will simply drop them where they are. Glancing Blow. Typically found on large weapons. Some large weapon swings when narrowly missed still produce a very small amount of damage, and a stagger. A sort of AOE capability. Oki/Okizeme. Moves used to attack opponent's whom are rising from a grounded state. BS. Shorthand for "backstab". Varies with different techniques (Roll BS, Pivot BS, etc.). Other terms often used here and on forums will be "Run Stab", "Lag Stab", "Roll Stab", etc. )\.--. .-,.-.,-. /`-. .-,.-.,-. )\.--. ( ._.' ) ,, ,. ( ,' _ \ ) ,, ,. ( ( ._.' `-.`. \( |( )/ ( '-' ( \( |( )/ `-.`. ,_ ( \ ) \ ) _ ) ) \ ,_ ( \ ( '.) ) \ ( ( ,' ) \ \ ( ( '.) ) '._,_.' )/ )/ )/ )/ '._,_.' ---------------------------------- ===(0001) - Understanding Stats=== ---------------------------------- Stats are the most rudimentary thing in Demon's Souls after basic game play. Knowing how to properly increase your stats will determine the quality of your build. ----------------- Diminishing Gains ----------------- Stats at large govern the damage for spells, miracles, and almost all weapons. However, all stats in Demon's Souls suffer from one thing: Diminishing Gains. This means you get the biggest jumps in damage from your stats from 1-30. 31-50 will still provide decent growth, however 51-99 is god awful. So you'd think this would encourage balanced builds right? Not at all. What this instead means is you'll focus keenly on a few choice stats (always Vitality), or find a series of “sweet spot” gains for utilizing particular setups (BBS/Cleaver). --------------------------------- 40 is the new 50 for damage stats --------------------------------- Golden Age builds were aimed at mostly 50 points for damage stats. A lot of people now go for 40, as the damage loss works out to about 10%-20%. -------------------------------------------------------- Melee class? Customize your Endurance to suit your needs -------------------------------------------------------- Another Golden Age rule that is instead a preference now. Generally, melee builds went with 40 Endurance to maximize stamina. As the metagame matured a lot of players started using less, simply because they were able to play with less, and enjoyed the points in another stat. Do as you please. --------------------------------------- Get the knowledge... go with a homebrew --------------------------------------- Although this guide is strongly dedicated to builds, there's no need to follow any exact formulas I've outlined. Even if you decide to ignore the build templates, you can it least get a good idea about how to spend your stat points wisely, and make a tight build of your own. This guide will never be even close to definitive in terms of PvP builds. There are way too many variations out there to even try. Wikidot builds archive: http://forums.demonssouls.info/viewtopic.php?f=16&t=8457 Mud Chan's Damage Calculator: https://sites.google.com/site/darksoulstats/ -------- Vitality -------- =Effects= - Maximum HP increases. =Important breakpoints= - 10 VITALITY = 572HP - 20 VITALITY = 792HP (+220) - 30 VITALITY = 1100HP (+308) - 40 VITALITY = 1325HP (+225) - 50 VITALITY = 1500HP (+175) - 60 VITALITY = 1588HP (+88) - 99 VITALITY = 1900HP (+312) =Notes= As you can see, Vitality falls off completely after 50. Beyond that, it's largely a waste of points. It peaks in gains from 20-30, but you should largely consider taking it to it least 40. 50 is what most builds aim for. ------------ Intelligence ------------ =Effects= - Maximum MP increases. - Spell memory slots increase (the total number of magic spells you may equip). =Important breakpoints= - 14 INTELLIGENCE = 2 spell slots, 97MP - 15 INTELLIGENCE = 100MP without accessories - 18 INTELLIGENCE = 3 spell slots, 119MP - 24 INTELLIGENCE = 4 spell slots, 157MP - 30 INTELLIGENCE = 5 spell slots, 200MP - 40 INTELLIGENCE = 6 spell slots, 280MP =Notes= As you can see the effectiveness of investing into Intelligence largely tapers-off after 18. 15-18-24-30 should always be your goal, as you require 100MP to cast Second Chance, and some builds rely on Curse Weapon which requires 3 spell slots, and finally builds often splash additional Intelligence for slots to gain Warding in addition to Curse. --------- Endurance --------- =Effects= - Maximum stamina increases. - Equip weight increases (you are able to wear increasingly heavy armor without suffering movement penalties). - Fire resistance increases. - Poison resistance increases. - Bleed resistance increases. =Important breakpoints= - 10 ENDURANCE = 91 stamina, 39 pounds equip weight - 20 ENDURANCE = 110 stamina, 49 pounds of equip weight - 30 ENDURANCE = 133 stamina, 59 pounds of equip weight - 40 ENDURANCE = 160 stamina (maximum stamina), 69 pounds of equip weight =Notes= 160 stamina is the maximum, and Endurance should never exceed 40 because of this cap. A lot of people will debate continuously on the merits of slightly less Endurance versus the full 40. If your build and play-style does not require stunlocks, blocking, or stamina-hungry weapons, you can probably take a fair portion of your Endurance allowance, and put it somewhere else. Anywhere from 20-something has become exceedingly common place... template your stamina based on your preference. -------- Strength -------- =Effects= - Physical damage increases on appropriate weapons. Please note this “damage increase” is only applicable to bare-handed attacks, or to weapons that receive a bonus according to Strength. =Notes= Strength breakpoints aren't relevant. You will always want the minimum possible unless you are pumping Strength, or trying to use a certain weapon. KEEP IN MIND that you can cut down on a third of a weapons Strength requirement by 2-handing the weapon. This can save you points if you decide your build/style is suited to a 2-handed style enough to abandon 1-handed use altogether. --------- Dexterity --------- =Effects= - Physical damage increases on appropriate weapons. Please note that again, this increase is only relative to weapons that receive a bonus according to Dexterity. =Notes= Dexterity, like Strength should not be invested into unless it's required for your build. Yes, this largely means abandoning the use of a bow in PvM, however if you are not ready for that commitment then you are not ready for a tuned PvP build. ----- Magic ----- =Effects= - Spell power increases (note that this is only spell power, and not miracle power). - Physical/magical damage increases on appropriate weapons. Please note that again, this increase is only relative to weapons that receive a bonus according to Magic. =Important breakpoints= - 6 MAGIC = Base Magic for a Temple Knight. If making a Strength or Dexterity build, this should stay at 6 (unless hijacking spells). - 10 MAGIC = required to learn spells from Sage Freke or his apprentice, however note that Yuria DOES NOT require 10 Magic to teach spells (IE Cursed Weapon). HOWEVER, you may level your Magic to 10, and then delevel it to base 6 Magic while still retaining all the spells you have learned (although to remember them you will need to speak with Yuria). - 12 MAGIC = effective use of Northern Regalia - 16 MAGIC = effective use of the Insanity Catalyst - 18 MAGIC = effective use of the Blueblood Sword - 30+ MAGIC = beyond 30 Magic the Light Weapon + Insanity Catalyst combo will begin to have diminishing returns on further points invested into Magic. It would be considered wise to stop here if using this combination. If you are pushing for increased damage, taking it slightly further would not be completely unwarranted though. - 50 MAGIC = the maximum Magic you should aim for with a caster build. Beyond this gains are hilariously paltry. ----- Faith ----- =Effects= - Miracle power increases (note that this is only miracle power, and not spell power). - Miracle memory slots increase (the total number of miracles you may equip). - Magic damage resistance increases. =Important breakpoints= The one and only breakpoint required to know is 16 Faith to have 2 miracle slots, and thus use of the mighty Second Chance. I cannot express how important this is. Investments beyond 16 should be reserved for a Faith build only. The sole argument to the contrary is with Meat Cleaver builds. ---- Luck ---- =Effects= - Item drop rates. - Disease resistance increases. - Increases the damage of the Blueblood Sword. =Important breakpoints notes= Luck should never be increased for any reason. The only case to the contrary would be if you're using the Blueblood Sword. As for the gains associated with the Blueblood Sword, you get the highest gains up to Luck 20, thus it would be wise to stop there if using that weapon. Increasing it further is not a mistake if craving greater damage, however anything beyond 30 may largely be a waste as the gains become rather paltry at that point. Standard builds aim for 20-30. ------------ ===Builds=== ------------ "There is a Shadow under this Red Rock." - T.S. Elliot, The Wasteland Here we'll be going over several builds, and generally variations on each of them. These builds represent the latest PvP climate in DS, and as such are widely proven by both myself, and many other prominent PvP players. I recommend checking out Mud Chan's Stat calculator to plan your damage stats accordingly: https://sites.google.com/site/darksoulstats/dark-souls-calculators Also Wikidot has composed a large build library that I advise you to take a look at. Its quality stuff, and it’s tended to quite often, so if you want up-to-date stuff, head on over: http://forums.demonssouls.info/viewtopic.php?f=16&t=8457 .-.-. .-.-. .-.-. .-.-. .-.-. .-.-. .-.-. .-.-. '. S )'. t )'. r )'. e )'. n )'. g )'. t )'. h ) ).' ).' ).' ).' ).' ).' ).' ).' ------------------------------------ ===(0002) - Strength-Based Builds=== ------------------------------------ ------------------------- Golden Age Crushing Build SL120 Temple Knight (1-21 point(s) remain) ------------------------------------------ Vit - 50 Int - 18 End - 30-40 Str - 40-50 Dex - 12 Mag – 6 (10, then delevel to 6 once Sage Freke's spell are obtained) Faith - 16 Luck - 7 ----------------------------- Dragon Bone Smasher Variation SL120 Temple Knight (0-10 points remain) --------------------------------------- Vit - 67 Int - 18 End - 30-40 Str - 34 Dex - 12 Mag – 6 (10, then delevel to 6 once Sage Freke's spell are obtained) Faith - 16 Luck – 7 -------------------------- Crushing 5-Slot Meta Build SL121 Temple Knight (0-10 points remain) --------------------------------------- Vit - 50 Int - 30 End - 30-40 Str - 40 Dex - 12 Mag – 6 (10, then delevel to 6 once Sage Freke's spell are obtained) Faith - 16 Luck - 7 ------------------ NR Strength Splash SL120 Temple Knight (5-15 points remain) ---------------------------------------- Vit - 50 Int - 18 End - 30-40 Str - 40 Dex - 12 Mag – 12 Faith - 16 Luck - 7 -------------------------------------------- (0002.i) – Common Strength Weapons/Utilities -------------------------------------------- - Common Strength Weapons Include the Following: 1) Dragonbone Smasher +5 2) Crushing +5 Weapons (notably Hammer, Great Axe, Knight Sword) 3) Northern Regalia/Dragon weapons as a Warding Crush. ----------------------------------- (0002.ii) - Strength Build Factoids ----------------------------------- 1) This build comes in dozens of flavours: Regular, Dragonbone, and 5-Slot. 1a) A Drangonbone build is capped at 34 Strength to effectively maximize DBS's 2-handed bonus. It then gouges Vitality, thus taking advantage of DBS's incredibly high static damage, and ignoring its diminishing gains while being held in the 2-handed grip, and still maximizing its 2-handed damage. 1b) The 5-Slot build is a relatively new inclusion into this guide, but something I (and likely others) have been using for some time. It's a meta build designed to gain access to both Warding and Curse in exchange for 10 or so Strength to better combat other Strength/Dex builds in a mirror match. 2) The above stat-point distributions of both builds allow you to equip a cracked Talisman of Beasts for use of the Second Chance miracle and the bugged version of the Curse Weapon spell. Levelling Magic to 10 allows you to learn Sage Freke's spells, then promptly de-levelling it back to 6 allows you to keep those points invested into Magic while still accessing the spells you've learned (you will require Yuria however to remember spells). 3) Again, you may be wondering why the DBS build only has 34 Strength. Basically, since Strength weapons receive a 50% bonus in double grip 34 Strength is the equivalent of 50 Strength (34 x 1.5 = 50). After 34 Strength the gains slow quite a bit. Beyond 66 Strength, 2-handing a weapon of no longer provides additional AR for added points into Strength. 4) The Priest starting class will give you an extra point on many Strength builds if you don't mind abandoning Hammer use. __ __ __ __ /\ \ /\ \ /_/\ /\ \ / \ \____ / \ \\ \ \ \ \_\ / /\ \_____\ / /\ \ \\ \ \__/ / / / / /\/___ // / /\ \_\\ \__ \/_/ / / / / / // /_/_ \/_/ \/_/\__/\ / / / / / // /____/\ _/\/__\ \ / / / / / // /\____\/ / _/_/\ \ \ \ \ \__/ / // / /______ / / / \ \ \ \ \___\/ // / /_______\ / / / /_/ / \/_____/ \/__________/ \/_/ \_\/ ------------------------------------- ===(0003) - Dexterity-Based Builds=== ------------------------------------- ---------------------- Golden Age Sharp Build SL120 Temple Knight (0-24 points remain) ------------------------------------- Vit - 45 Int - 18 End - 30-40 Str - 14-18 Dex - 40-50 Mag – 6 (10, then delevel to 6 once Sage Freke's spell are obtained) Faith - 16 Luck - 7 ------------------- 5-Slot Meta Variant SL120 Temple Knight (0-14 points remain) ------------------------------------- Vit - 43 Int - 30 End - 30-40 Str - 14-18 Dex - 40 Mag – 6 (10, then delevel to 6 once Sage Freke's spell are obtained) Faith - 16 Luck - 7 ------------------- NR Dexterity Splash SL120 Temple Knight (2-12 points remain) ------------------------------------- Vit - 43 Int - 18 End - 30-40 Str - 18 Dex - 40 Mag – 12 Faith - 16 Luck - 7 ---------------------------------- Common Dexterity Weapons/Utilities ---------------------------------- - Common Dexterity Weapons Include the Following: 1) Gripless/Hiltless +5 2) Meat Cleaver (surprisingly) 3) Sharp +5 Weapons (notably Katana, Sais, Kilij, Estoc) 4) Northern Regalia/Dragon +5 (Warding Crush) ---------------------- Dexterity Builds notes ---------------------- 1) The above stat-point distributions of both builds allow you to equip a cracked Talisman of Beasts for use of the Second Chance miracle and the bugged version of the Curse Weapon spell. Levelling Magic to 10 allows you to learn Sage Freke's spells, then promptly de-levelling it back to 6 allows you to keep those points invested into Magic while still accessing the spells you've learned (you will require Yuria however to remember spells). Unlike Strength, depending on your style you can largely get away without using Curse Weapon, which opens up the door to things like Warding, Cloak and clouds. 2) The 5-Slot build is a relatively new inclusion into this guide, but something I (and potentially others) have been using for some time. It’s a meta build designed to gain access to both Warding and Curse in exchange for 10 or so Dexterity to better combat other Strength/Dex builds in a mirror match. Although the stat spread makes it slightly worse against every other build essentially, I believe it to be the dominant of the 3 builds. 3) 18 Strength gives you access to one the strongest Dexterity weapon: Gripless/Hiltless. You can also equip a Dark Silver Shield, or if you feel like something with a bit more hit resistance, Knight's Shield is an incredible alternative if you find yourself sucking up physical attacks with a shield a lot. .--. . _.._ |__| .'| .' .._| .--. .| < | | ' __ | | .' |_ | | __| |__ .:--.'. | | .' || | .'''-. |__ __|/ | \ || |'--. .-'| |/.'''. \ | | `" __ | || | | | | / | | | | .'.''| ||__| | | | | | | | | / / | |_ | '.'| | | | | | \ \._,\ '/ | / | '. | '. |_| `--' `" `'-' '---' '---' --------------------------------- ===(0004) - Faith-Based Builds=== --------------------------------- ----------------------- Standard Variable Build SL120 Temple Knight ------------------- Vit - 40-50 Int – 15-18 End - 40 Str - 14-26 Dex - 12 Mag – 6 (10, then delevel to 6 once Sage Freke's spell are obtained) Faith - 40-50 Luck – 7 --------------------------------------- (0004) – Common Faith Weapons/Utilities --------------------------------------- - Common Faith Weapons Include the Following: 1) Large Sword of Moonlight 2) Blessed +5 weapons (Crescent Axe, Great Axe, Knight Sword, Guillotine Axe, Claymore, Great Sword) 3) Baby's Nail (backup) 4) Istarelle ------------------ Faith Builds notes ------------------ 1) What Faith lacks in sheer output over its Strength relatives is makes up for in diversity. - No Weapon buffs provide 2-3 free spell slots. Free Warding at least. - HP regeneration provides a favourable matchup versus turtling strategies. - Gouged Magic defence helps greatly with every non-physical build. Notably Magic-based builds that rely on medium output split damage weapons will suffer large damage losses over the course of a fight. - High Magic damage provides a built-in Warding crush. - Although uniques are not top notch, LSoM is a great weapon in a turtle-heavy meta. 4) The Priest starting class will give you an extra point on many Faith builds if you don't mind abandoning Hammer use. ,---,. ,---,. .--.--. ,' .' \ ,' .' \ / / '. ,---.' .' |,---.' .' || : /`. / | | |: || | |: |; | |--` : : : /: : : /| : ;_ : | ; : | ; \ \ `. | : \| : \ `----. \ | | . || | . | __ \ \ | ' : '; |' : '; | / /`--' / | | | ; | | | ; '--'. / | : / | : / `--'---' | | ,' | | ,' `----' `----' ------------------------------------- ===(0005) - Blueblood Sword Builds=== ------------------------------------- ------------------------- Standard 1-Hand BBS Build SL120 Royal (1-11 points remain) ------------------------------- Vit - 40 Int - 15+ End - 30-40 Str - 18 Dex - 18 Mag - 30 Faith - 18 Luck - 20 ------------ Luckless BBS SL120 Royal (14-24 points remain) --------------------------------- Vit - 40 Int - 15+ End - 30-40 Str - 18 Dex - 18 Mag - 30 Faith - 18 Luck - 7 --------------------------------------- (0005) – Common BBS Weapons/Utilities --------------------------------------- - Common BBS Weapons Include the Following: 1) Blueblood Sword 2) Insanity Catalyst 3) Backups in the form of NR and Moon/Dragon weapons. ----------------------------------------- (0005) – Blueblood Sword Builds Explained ----------------------------------------- 1) It should also be noted since almost all the damage from a BBS build is magic, and not physical, it can be used quite well in one hand even if requirements for Strength are not met. This also makes it basically immune to Scrape tactics. 2) Luckless BBS is a new build aimed at players who focus more on combos and harassing strikes then BSes/ripostes. The damage per hit with base Luck as long as Light Weapon is engaged loses about 15-ish percent, but provides quite a few points to access a larger Vitality pool, or even Warding. Although the loss of damage is not sorely missed, your BS damage will sink to just under 1k (BP with Foe, in +2 WWT), which means you will not be able to one-shot blues with a clean BS. This can be a favourable trade depending on your style, but it's not for everyone that's for sure. The big draw is Warding access without a doubt, to improve Dexterity/Strength matchups. _ _ ___ | \| | | _ \ | .` |===| /egalia (& other Gouge builds) |_|\_| |_|_\ _|"""""|_|"""""| "`-0-0-'"`-0-0-' -------------------------------------- ===(0006) - Northern Regalia Builds=== -------------------------------------- ------------------------------- Northern Regalia Vitality Gouge SL120 Temple Knight (0-21 points remain) ---------------------------------------- Vit - 76 Int - 15 End - 25-40 Str - 14-20 Dex - 14 Mag - 12 Faith - 16 Luck - 7 ------------------------ Northern Regalia, 5-slot SL120 Temple Knight (0-21 points remain) ---------------------------------------- Vit - 61 Int - 30 End - 25-40 Str - 14-20 Dex - 14 Mag - 12 Faith - 16 Luck - 7 ------------------- Dragon/Makoto Gouge SL120 Temple Knight (0 points remain) ------------------------------------- Vit - 83-91 Int - 15-18 End - 40 Str - 14-18 Dex - 12-13 Mag – 6 (10, then delevel to 6 once Sage Freke's spell are obtained) Faith - 16 Luck – 7 -------------------------------------- (0006) – Common NR Weapons/Utilities -------------------------------------- - Common NR weapons include the following: 1) Northern Regalia 2) Dragon +5 weapons 3) (special) Morion Blade & Clever Rat's Ring (as left hand weapon when two-handing main attack) 4) Makoto +5 --------------------------------------------- (0006) - Northern Regalia Builds Explained --------------------------------------------- 1) Friend's/Foe's Ring seems to have rather impressive results with this build (although this may be largely attributed to the fact that I see it seldom used except on hosts and new players, and thus the damage was largely less than impressive). Despite NR users should all technically deal similar damage, I found it varied greatly person to person (from neutral CT NR to host NR, to soul form NR, to Friend's/Foe's NR). Frankly, you never know what you're getting. Be forewarned: in phantom versus phantom combat NR can hit brutally hard. 2) As a Large Sword of average range, it presents no particular strengths or weaknesses in terms of matchups (unlike Claymore which has many solid matchups due to its increased range). Even its absolutely worst matches often result in a series of R1 trades. Large Swords are odd beasts in this glorified game of paper/scissors/rock. 3) These two particular builds are sample builds (the Gouge build seems obvious, the 5-slot Variation is a bit less so, however they're all pretty liquid). The +/- 6 Strength variation on both of them that allows for exclusive 2-handed use if so desired. 4) The Dragon/Makoto gouge builds are lumped here because they are more-or-less the same as NR, with the exception of different weapons. Dual Makotos are swell, and Dragon weapons although somewhat weak can secure a victory. Basically, if you lie the idea of a Gouged build, and don't like NR, consider these (although a NR build can still use Makotos with a few points invested into Strength). 5) NR is a stamina-light playstyle generally. Since you will never swing the weapon more than twice in a double grip, you can certainly remove a large portion of Endurance if you feel comfortable with it. ___ ( ) ___ .-. .-. .--. .---. | |_ ( ) ' \ / \ / .-, \ ( __) | .-. .-. ; | .-. ; (__) ; | | | | | | | | | | | | | .'` | | | ___ | | | | | | | |/ | / .'| | | |( ) | | | | | | | ' _.' | / | | | | | | | | | | | | | .'.-. ; | ; | | ' | | | | | | | | ' `-' / ' `-' | ' `-' ; (___)(___)(___) `.__.' `.__.'_. `.__. ------------------------------------------ ===(0007) - Standard Meat Cleaver Build=== ------------------------------------------ ----------------------- iCat LW Cleaver returns ----------------------- LW Cleaver was something TMRaven originally advocated, but after we discussed it in some degree of length, we decided it was a bit too rickety to include in the older guides (or at least I convinced him). That was a long time ago, and things have changed drastically in PvP. The shakiness of a MC build utilizing LW no longer isn’t that bad. A lot of builds these days are focused on diversity over sheer min-maxing, which opened the door for this old gem (also, a meta not full of katanas helps). Again, due to insanely rigid stat spreads, you’re not getting the best spread, or a variable spread... but this build will work nicely in a Warding-glutted meta. This revision is one of ggDoom’s creations. Praise be to him, and TMRaven. -------------------- iCat Light Weapon MC SL120 Temple Knight (0 points remain) ------------------------------------- SL120 Temple Knight Vit - 40-45 Int - 14 End - 35-40 Str - 28 Dex - 30 Mag – 30 Faith - 16 Luck - 7 ------------------------------------------------ (0007.i) – Common Meat Cleaver Weapons/Utilities ------------------------------------------------ - Common MC Weapons Include the Following: 1) Meat Cleaver 2) Dragon, Crushing, Quality, and Blessed weapons 5) Talisman of Beasts/iCat ----------------------------------------- (0007.ii) – Meat Cleaver Builds Explained ----------------------------------------- 1) Although inferior in damage output to a Crushing style build using a Cursed Great Axe, Cleaver still has a clear advantage on the range front improving Polearm matches, and it also has the ever-present backstab vacuum Cleaver is famous for. Similar to BBS this build suffers from a wide stat spread, keeping your Vitality at 40-ish or so. This can cause you to suffer at higher levels of play. Consider a Crushing build with Crescent Axe (similar damage, similar range, same move set) if you're concerned. The only primary difference between the two is that Cleaver does considerable damage through certain shield blocks and Warding that a Crushing build simply can't due to Cleaver's on-board magic attack and builds that can use iCat LW. If this is worth more than your Vitality, then go with Cleaver. 2) Cleaver is one of the few weapons that gets a great return on Sticky White Stuff. This is solid in longer duels since you aren't forced to eat a spice before re-applying Curse Weapon. This also means Cleaver can still perform quite admirably without Curse, and again opens up spell slots to things such as Warding. Without a doubt this is the largest distinction between Cleaver and his Crushing GA/CA cousins. This is also good for wrecking Warding spam post duration of Curse using SWS as a rebuff. --------------------------- GGdoom's Random MC factoids --------------------------- Random facts I found out about scaling: In general Dexterity scales better than Str, even though at points it seems like Strength is doing better. Of course, Magic actually gives you the best returns in lieu of Light Weapon with Insanity Catalyst. Check it out: Increasing Dexterity from 18 to 30 nets you an increase of 48 AR. Increasing Strength from 18 to 30 nets you an increase of 42 AR. Increasing Magic from 18 to 30 nets you an increase of 58 AR. A notable point in Strength is when you level up from 19 to 20, this single point nets you 11 extra AR. Taking stats past 30 is more or less a waste of stats, unless you really want greater damage, but even then... there are 4 stats to focus on here (yeah, you forgot about Faith didn't you?). With the stats provided you have 652 AR on your MC, damage varies heavily because the weapon has a sweet spot. ,ggg, ,ggg,_,ggg, dP""Y8dP""Y88P""Y8b Yb, `88' `88' `88 `" 88 88 88 gg 88 88 88 "" 88 88 88 ,gggg,gg ,gggg,gg gg ,gggg, 88 88 88 dP" "Y8I dP" "Y8I 88 dP" "Yb 88 88 88 i8' ,8I i8' ,8I 88 i8' 88 88 Y8,,d8, ,d8b,,d8, ,d8I _,88,_,d8,_ _ 88 88 `Y8P"Y8888P"`Y8P"Y8888P"8888P""Y8P""Y8888PP ,d8I' ,dP'8I ,8" 8I I8 8I `8, ,8I `Y8P" ---------------------------------------------------- ===(0008) – Magic-Based Builds: a variable primer=== ---------------------------------------------------- SL120 Royal Vit – 40+ Int – 14+ End – 8-X Str – 9-X Dex – 12-13 Mag - 40-50 Faith – 16 - 18 Luck – 7 Notes on allotments: As you can see, this is hardly a build, mainly because Magic builds are so incredibly liquid unlike melee which you can easily distinguish a handful of optimal builds, and certain concessions between variations on those builds. The only standard considerations are pumping Magic to 40-50 and Faith to it least 16-18. The biggest variables are almost everything else, especially Endurance/Intelligence. You need to think carefully: how much melee do you want to incorporate into your Magic-based build? Is it a melee build using Crescent/Moon weapons, or a caster build, or a hybrid? Let's take a look at four radically different stat allocations: ------------------------ Non-Descript iCat Caster 6 points remain, SL 120 Royal ----------------------------- Vit – 50 Int – 40 End – 8 Str – 9 Dex – 12 Mag - 50 Faith – 18 Luck – 7 --------------------- Non-Descript ToB Push 6 points remain, SL 120 Royal ----------------------------- Vit – 50 Int – 30 End – 8 Str – 9 Dex – 12 Mag - 40 Faith – 40 Luck – 7 ------------------------------- Non-Descript Hybrid/Spell Sword 8 points remain, SL120 Royal ---------------------------- Vit – 50 Int – 24 End – 30 Str – 10 (2-handing Sais/Kilij) Dex – 13 (required to properly wield Sais) Mag - 40 Faith – 18 Luck – 7 ----- Notes ----- 1st off, there are like infinite combinations of these sorts of variations... even moreso with Magic-based builds. These 3 particular builds are just 3 random builds of many made to reflect the variation on setups relying on Magic. Basically, a pure caster can make a very twinked build as long as melee stays out of the equation. The second you start adding melee, you need to consider your now rapidly growing stat spread. There are no optimal Magic 120 PvP builds for this reason, at least no hybrids. In the New Meta magic has risen dramatically in use due to Pivot Casting, and a series of combos relying on Fireball Stun. Also the shift towards SL125 characters provides a greater benefit to these builds most. ----------------------------------------- (0008.i) – Common Magic Weapons/Utilities ----------------------------------------- 1) Insanity Catalyst/Talisman of Beasts/Wooden Catalyst 2) Crescent/Moon +5 weapons 3) Kris Blade/Monk's Collar/Ring of Magical Sharpness ---------------------------------------------- (0008.ii) - Magic Builds Explained... Somewhat ---------------------------------------------- 1) Magic builds run the gamut from heavy caster, to melee-supplemented, so outlining specific traits of the builds is largely a flawed principle. Strategies, and explanations are variable... and although a complete strategic summary would be impossible, I'll make a few mentions. 2) Spell access is obviously the biggest draw here. How much you have is determined by your Intelligence, and how much you can rely on it is determined by your Intelligence/Catalyst of choice. 3) If you're heavy melee having access to powerful versions of every weapon is absolutely incredible. This is the biggest draw from the melee standpoint. A solid Great Axe and 2x Katanas on the same build sounds passable to me. 4) Your catalyst/talismans should always be used in the off-hand. This means that Kris remains in the main-hand which you can backstab with, and panic spam if need be. Also Push-to-Ignite is broken. 5) When invading opt for Foe's Ring over Ring of Magical Sharpness. Friend/Foe are actually superior on the spell damage front. This also means casters are incredibly good defending home turf as hosts due to retaining most of their spell damage. 6) Kris/Monk's Collar/Ring of Magical Sharpness all lower your magic defence. This isn't just spell defence either... this is magic defence. This means Blessed Weapons/Moon Weapons/BBS/spells that deal magic damage... anything with magic damage will deal more to you. --------------------------------------------------- A Final and Major Note About Magic Spells (updated) --------------------------------------------------- As of 1.5, I have modified this guide to include discussions on "Pivot Cast" and "Toggle Cast" as well as a modified version of Nick1Nintendo's notes. ----------------------------------------------- ===Non-specific Build Information and Basics=== ----------------------------------------------- "Success is neither magical nor mysterious. Success is the natural consequence of consistently applying the basic fundamentals." - Jim Rohn Here we'll be discussing information that's relevant to every build (mostly). It's mainly a few points I've decided to outline immediately after builds because I consider them somewhat fundamental in creating proper builds, and understanding the points I will illustrate in the guide. ---------------------------------------------------------- ===(0009) - What is “Stunlock”? How can I deal with it?=== ---------------------------------------------------------- Stunlock is the ability to score consecutive hits (generally, R1 swings) that cannot be blocked, or interrupted. This is akin to say combo hits in a fighting game. There are several factors to calculating a weapon's proclivity to combo hits. Here are some things to think about: ------------------ The type of weapon ------------------ Each type of weapon has a pre-determined ability to combo. Try to find out what yours is by duelling with it.

--------------------------- 1-handed or 2-handed stance --------------------------- Very few weapons have the capability to combo in one hand. 2-Handed stance will generally increase your combo capabilities with various weapons. In addition, 2-handed attacks generally apply more damage allowing you to potentially kill your opponent in a series of successful hits. ----- Range ----- The closer the better generally. Some stun-locks slowly push your opponent out of range, causing you to whiff earlier then you'd like. Longer weapons are also able to score potentially an additional hit than shorter weapons in the same class. -------------------- Push locks (updated) -------------------- Pushes can start or continue certain weapon locks (these are a bit more skill intensive then swinging your weapon wildly, while praying to the Stunlock Gods). This is largely the case for 2x Katana combos, however I've also seen it done to a lesser extent with larger weapons, such as a 2-handed Claymore (although they can't score a series of combo hits, even a couple hits is worth considering). It should be noted that successful hits preceded by push attacks deal additional Counter Hit damage. ------------------------ Hidden factors (updated) ------------------------ The above ones are mostly common sense, but certain weapon seem to have varying degrees of stunlocks that appear to hinge on game mechanics that are less obvious or completely obscured altogether. For example the ability of a Large Blunt/Large Axe seems to be able to combo with its 2-handed 1-2-3 combo swings... sometimes... while other times it's quite escapable. ---------------------------------- Breaking Stun-locks and Push-locks ---------------------------------- There is now a proven method for breaking locks: - Swapping Weapons. Yes, you've just uncovered the greatest secret to Demon's Souls PvP... pushing the D-Pad in order not to die instantly (I provide a discussion in the guide about this in its own section, but I figured I'd provide a brief blurb here too). There's nothing to this, but for some reason swapping weapons seems to cancel hit stuns. This means you can cut any extended combo down by 1-2 hits quite consistently (against katanas, this is particularly effective, as they have the potentially longest combos). The only thing that seems immune to this break are Claw and 2-handed Dagger push-locks. Luckily, they're exceedingly hard to land (unlike say 2 katanas). ------------------------------------------------------------------ ===(0010) - Talisman of Beasts: the best item in Demon's Souls?=== ------------------------------------------------------------------ Talisman of Beasts (ToB). It's hands down the most useful item in the game. Nothing comes close to the diversity and pure awesomeness of ToB. It literally can do anything. Let's review: ToB can be used in 3 very distinct ways: 1) Normally. 2) “Cracked”. 3) “Pushed”. ------------- 1) Normal ToB ------------- This is the general tool. It provides so-so spell power and the weak miracle power in a single package. Nothing special here really, other than it's still great. ---------------- 2) “Cracked” ToB ---------------- This is what you'll see the most of at high levels of play from melee builds. It's commonly referred to as “Cracking” or “Bugging” ToB. A Cracked ToB is simply using a ToB while not meeting its requirements. It's much like not meeting the requirements for a weapon, you can still swing it, it just doesn't do any damage. The same goes for ToB. By not meeting it's requirements, you can still cast both spells and miracles with it... they will just be incredibly weak. The sheer brokenness of this is in casting spells that aren't governed by spell/miracle power (see: Second Chance/Warding). These spells simply just “work”. They are indifferent to your spell/miracle power. This becomes especially important for Curse Weapon (using it with a Cracked ToB is commonly known as “Cracked/Bugged" Curse Weapon). The bonus from Curse Weapon (as we've discussed) is not variable, but indifferent to your spell power. However, the HP loss per second does hinge on your spell power. This means when you use a Cracked version of Cursed Weapon you get the same damage bonus you would normally, however you actually take less damage. With 6 Magic (a Temple Knight's base Magic) Cracked Curse Weapon will siphon between 0-2 HP per second all the way up to 1500HP (it probably goes higher before shifting to 3HP loss per second, but I haven't tested it personally). The variable figure (0HP, 1HP and 2HP) will hinge on your total HP (generally being in soul form w/ no Cling Ring, being in soul form with Cling Ring equipped and being in body form will cause these HP drain variations). That's Cracked ToB in a nutshell. Broken as hell. --------------- 3) “Pushed” ToB --------------- This one is much lesser known than his Cracked cousin. Pushing ToB is what happens when you gouge Faith and Magic to absurd levels and use ToB as a catalyst for extreme spell damage, pushing it beyond the capability of Insanity Catalyst (iCat). We all know that weapons have scaling, but a lesser known fact is that catalysts (and of course ToB) have scaling in regards to spell power. Now initially, iCat is far and away the best catalyst, however iCat scales only with Magic, whereas ToB scales with both Faith and Magic. Now the Magic scaling on iCat is superior to either the Faith/Magic scaling on ToB individually, however the combined scaling of ToB inevitably leaves iCat in the behind by a small margin. Here's a test I've recently performed: iCat: 45 Magic/Any Faith = 610 Damage ToB: 45 Magic/24 Faith = 548 Damage ToB 45 Magic/30 Faith = 574 Damage ToB 45 Magic/35 Faith = 588 Damage ToB 45 Magic/40 Faith = 601 Damage ToB 45 Magic/41 Faith = 603 Damage ToB 45 Magic/42 Faith = 607 Damage ToB 45 Magic/43 Faith = 610 Damage ToB 45 Magic/44 Faith = 614 Damage Rule of Thumb: if your Faith and Magic are equal, your ToB will out-damage your iCat, at around the 44-ish Magic/Faith. After testing at level 712, ToB does out-damage iCat by a considerable margin. There are two exceptions to this rule: Light Weapon and Enchant Weapon. They will always have superior results with iCat. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- ===(0011) - Freke is not your friend: Steal From Him (Spell Hijack)=== ---------------------------------------------------------------------- It is widely considered that 10 Magic is required to learn spells. This is a falsehood in two respects: 1) Yuria has no requirement for teaching spells. 2) Although Sage Freke does indeed require 10 Magic, he doesn't seem to have any problem with you learning his spells, and then delevelling your Magic stat to base. Simply increase your Magic to 10, learn whatever spells of Freke's you desire then de-level your Magic to 6. 4 free stat points for builds that do not require Magic power. ----------------------------------------- ===(0012) - Character Tendency and You=== ----------------------------------------- One basic game mechanic I will discuss briefly is Character Tendency (or “CT”) and it's relevance to PvP. CT is a stat that hinges on your overall alignment towards good or evil (so to speak). Basically if you kill hosts or Blue Phantoms as an invader your CT shifts towards Black (or if you kill friendly NPCs in your own world). If you kill specific in-game NPC BPs or invading player BPs your CT shifts towards White. Pretty obvious stuff you probably already know. However CT alters a few things in PvP: 1) With Black CT you will deal more damage as a BP. 2) With White CT you will deal more damage as a Blue Phantom, or whenever you're playing in your own game as a host or in soul form. 3) Black or white CT is required to effectively handle Northern Regalia (obviously, and yes, Demonbrand/Soulbrand). The big thing of note here is of course the damage. The figures I've been provided with by GameFAQs user Garl_Vinland (a cool handle) look something like this: For Blue Phantoms/Hosts: Black CT = -10% Neutral CT = +0% White CT = +10% For Black Phantoms: Black CT = +10% Neutral CT = +0% White CT = -10% Regardless of the exact figures, they're at large unimportant. All that you really need to know is this: Keep your CT working for you at all times. If you're constantly bouncing between being an invader and being a host you're putting yourself at a disadvantage. The “fix” to this simple enough to execute however: - If you like to invade... keep invading! - If you like to host... keep hosting! Most of the time you're going to have the CT that best serves you, but if you're trying to squeeze the most possible damage out of your character keep this information in mind. --------------------------------------------------------------------- === (0013) - Thomas, a Generous Soul: Duping and Other Amusements === --------------------------------------------------------------------- Most avid PvPers need a quick and fast solution to provide +5 weapons, ToB/iCat, high quality consumables, rings, and basically everything else required to gear a new character. A lot of forums endorse their own armories run by DS aficionados, with a selection of everything in the game available at basically level 1, to properly outfit PvPers outright as soon as possible. I think this is suitable; in fact I’ve used these services on a few occasions. The only thing that bothers me is that they’re prone to abuse (IE new players getting outfitted for Platinum, and avid chicken-hawkers). This isn’t a loot game... and only a few pieces of gear require more than a half-hour or so of work. Players get little benefit from this for PvP aside from high quality consumables. Here are a few methods I’ll be discussing about certain exploits to get your character geared, and keeping them geared. - Thomas Dupe - Smurf Dupe ----------------------- === The Thomas Dupe === ----------------------- Requires - Thomas and Boldwin to be alive. - 1 of the following: Evacuate, Nexial Binding, Shards of Archstone This dupe has replaced most of the previous dupes, simply because it can do almost everything the other dupes can but faster, and in single-player. I've kept the Smurf Dupe because many players prefer to duplicate weapons to one another in this way. ------- Step 1: ------- Remove all copies of the item you wish to dupe from Thomas' inventory, if any. If you do not, it will not work properly. ------- Step 2: ------- Equip belt either a Shard of Archstone/Nexial Binding, or remember the Evacuate Miracle. ------- Step 3: ------- Speak with the Blacksmith. ------- Step 4: ------- Go into the "Purchase/Buy" menu, and select an item. Do not purchase it. ------- Step 5: ------- Walk over to Thomas while keeping this menu open. Get into range so you may speak with him (do not speak with him yet however, just get in range). ------- Step 6: ------- The inventory screen with the Blacksmith will close. Use your Nexial Binding/Shard of Archstone/Evacuate. ------- Step 7: ------- When the window pops up asking you if you wish to "Return to the Nexus" press start to cancel it. ------- Step 8: ------- Immediately speak with Thomas. ------ Step 9 ------ Deposit the item you wish to have duped. If done correctly, you will instantly teleport back to the Nexus. There now will by 1024 copies of the item you deposited in Thomas' inventory. When you take any, that figure will be reduced to 99 (or 999 if its arrows/bolts). ---------------------- === The Smurf Dupe === ---------------------- Requires: - 2 players in a similar level range with online capability - It least 1 Blue Eye Stone (although it can be done with a Red Eye Stone nicely too) This is a what you’ll generally see mass dupes take the form of, when one player dupes a ton of items to the other. It’s actually exceedingly simple: ------- Step 1: ------- The person with the items they desire to be duplicated will enter the host's world as Blue Phantom (generally pre-arranged via the PSN). ------- Step 2: ------- The Blue drops all items they wish to be duplicated on the ground. ------- Step 3: ------- The blue quits the game immediately via the PSN menu. That's it. This effectively bypasses the game’s auto-save feature. The Blue player will have all the items they dropped still in their inventory once they reboot their game, while the dropped items in question will still remain on the ground in the Host’s world too (thus making duplicates). If you’re at the 120 range, it’s recommended that you go somewhere isolated to avoid invasions, which can be disastrous. ------------------- === Comparisons === ------------------- Here we'll briefly discuss some more open-ended material. We'll be comparing shields, weapon buffs, status attacks, and Warding Versus Second Chance. Nothing fancy... let's get to it! --------------=-------------- ===(0014) - Shield Basics === ----------------------------- The previous version of this section had lengthy comparisons between shields and lengthy discussions on the matter. I've decided to trim it to the basics while adding more relative information. Here are the only shields worth considering: --------------------------- Dark Purple Flame Shield +5 --------------------------- - Requires 22 Strength. - 100% physical damage reduction on block, 90% fire damage reduction, and 70% magic damage reduction. It has 60% hit resistance. --------------------- Dark Silver Shield +5 --------------------- - Requires 16 Strength. - At +5 has 100% physical damage reduction on block, 70% fire damage reduction, and 100% magic damage reduction. It has 65% hit resistance. - Gives you a passive magic damage reduction on both attack, and defence (similar to Ring of Magical Dullness). ------------------- Knight's Shield +10 ------------------- - Requires 16 Strength. - Can be upgraded to +10 using Hardstone. - At +10 has 100% physical damage reduction on block, 70% fire damage reduction, and 30% magic damage reduction. It has 78% hit resistance. ----------------------- Adjudicator's Shield +5 ----------------------- - Requires 14 Strength. - Don't ever attempt a block with Adjudicator: it’s awful for blocking. - Gives you a passive HP regeneration bonus rated at 8HP per second at +5. --------------------------------------------------------------- === Basic Shield Q&A (things you should know about shields) === --------------------------------------------------------------- Q: What does “hit resistance” do? A: It determines how much stamina will be drained on block and by extension if an attack will crush your guard. Hit resistance is the single most important attribute next to physical damage resistance. A shield with high hit resistance will allow you to make repeated blocks for less stamina. Q: What's “guard crush”? A: Guard crush is when a blocked attack successfully drains your stamina completely though a block. You repel back, and are left wildly open in a special critical state. While you're in guard crush the next hit will do 40% more damage. Q: What's damage resistance/damage cut%? How does it compare to hit resistance? A: Damage resistance is how much damage you take on a successful block (successful block is a block which does not crush your guard). A shield with 100% damage resistance will prevent all damage to you on successful block. A shield with less damage resistance will allow a percentage of the damage to slip though even on a successful block (extremely bad). Only shields with 100% damage block are usable. Damage resistance comes in three types: - Physical (this must be 100% to even consider a shield) - Magical - Fire 100% physical is required, while the others are not nearly as important. Again, hit resistance determines the amount of stamina required to block. Q: So, I should go with a shield with the highest hit resistance then and 100% physical damage resistance right? A: Not quite. Hit resistance is important. But it's not the sole qualification you should consider when choosing a shield. Consider this: the Strength required to wield a certain shield. You should NEVER be sinking points into Strength just to equip an afterthought item such as a shield. Also, although hit resistance is the “Star Player” on the series of attributes on a shield, it doesn't exactly mean it will fit your play-style the best. Case-in-point: Dark Silver Shield. At +5 it features a so-so 65% hit resistance, however it's the only shield that boasts 100% physical, 100% magical, and 70% fire and it can parry. These exceedingly high damage resistances plus the ability to nerf Large Swords/Poles with parries make it very easy to overlook the lower hit resistance (and for good reason). A lot of veteran players contend that DSS+5 (with its arguably bad hit resistance) is the best shield in the game. It is the best shield. Q: What's your number one piece of shield-related advice? A: Make your shield work for your build, not the other way around. .-------. .-./`) ,---. .--. .-_'''-. .-'''-. | _ _ \ \ .-.')| \ | | '_( )_ \ / _ \ | ( ' ) | / `-' \| , \ | ||(_ o _)| ' (`' )/`--' |(_ o _) / `-'`"`| |\_ \| |. (_,_)/___| (_ o _). | (_,_).' __ .---. | _( )_\ || | .-----. (_,_). '. | |\ \ | || | | (_ o _) |' \ '- .'.---. \ : | | \ `' /| | | (_,_)\ | \ `-'` | \ `-' | | | \ / | | | | | | \ / \ / ''-' `'-' '---' '--' '--' `'-...-' `-...-' ------------------------ ===(0015) - PvP Rings=== ------------------------ “Knowledge is always accompanied with accessories of emotion and purpose.” - Alfred North Whitehead Unlike armor (which makes a remedial difference) Rings drastically effect your character. Surprisingly a lot of rings have some merit in PvP (obviously the effectiveness of some is greater than others). I will briefly outline which are PvP worthy, and largely ignore those that aren't. This is one of the few sections I will openly steal info from the English DS Wiki too. ---------- Cling Ring ---------- There's nothing to say here other then it's mandatory for Soul Form PvP. Never leave home without the mighty Cling Ring. It's the best ring for the road. ------------------- Friend's/Foe's Ring ------------------- Pretty much mandatory for BP/RSS and smurf PvP. They provide a potent damage boost, and give off no visible aura. Absurdly strong. --------------- Clever Rat Ring --------------- When your HP is below 30% of your total, your Attack power increases by 50%. Mandatory for Hyper Mode, and one of the best Body Form rings. A must have. Recognizing the aura this has is important when facing it, luckily it appears to overtake all other auras, so it's quite visible. Tied for the best PvE ring in the game, and the best ring for defending home turf. ------------- Dull Rat Ring ------------- When your HP is below 30%, your defence increases by 50%. Not shabby at all. Especially effective when your opponent relies on stunlocks to hit as this ring can buy you a free hit or two. Very underrated, and a great Body-Form ring... defend even harder at home. ---------------------- Eternal Warrior's Ring ---------------------- Increases rate of stamina regeneration by about 8 stamina per second. Not too bad. This ring was really popular a while ago, but it's mostly taken a back seat to Rat rings for hosts. It's still pretty solid though. It really shines when used with armor with no Stamina Regeneration penalty. Also, sexiest aura in the game... hands down, that vibrant green rocks. Can be practical for fighting turtles when combined with Plague. ------------------------- Thief's/Graverobber's Ring ------------------------- Stealth Rings are swell. Keep in mind that they don't stack, the strongest stealth Item/Spell simply overtakes all the others. The big thing to note is that Cloak is superior to the Thief's Ring, so if you're playing a ninja then there's no real reason to run a Thief's Ring if you're on the ball with your casting. Tied with Clever Rat for best PvE ring. ------------------ Regenerator's Ring ------------------ 4HP per second is pretty meager... but it stacks up nicely with an Adjudicator and a Blessed weapon. Last time I checked 18HP per second wasn't bad. Not the best ring in town, but it's still slick for any Faith players guarding home turf. ------------------------- Ring of Magical Sharpness ------------------------- Increases magic attack power while decreasing magic defence... great for a Body-Form caster, but Friend & Foe outperform it by a very, very small margin, so you shouldn't use it while in Soul Form. However, it does stack with a Foe's Ring... which could be some fun with Firespray. ---------- Conclusion ---------- If you're a Smurf or a BP and you're not wearing Foe/Cling, you're doing it wrong. The only ring you'd ever consider running over foe is Clever Rat, and even then Hyper Mode is not the hottest in phantom versus phantom combat. I suppose under certain circumstances E. Warrior ring has its merits, but those will be few and far between. ------------------------------------------------------ ===(0016) - Weapon Buffs Part 1: Which is the best?=== ------------------------------------------------------ There are several weapon buffs: - Turpentine (disposable item) - Black Turpentine (disposable item) - Sticky White Stuff (disposable item) - Enchant Weapon (spell) - Light Weapon (spell) - Curse Weapon (spell) Out of the gate, I will tell you that Light Weapon and Curse Weapon are far and away the best. Everything else is mostly unusable. Basically, because of the abundance of Cursed Weapon, Warding has returned as a considerable buff post cracking Second Chance at higher levels of play to stifle the surge in builds revolving around Curse Weapon. So, if you're using both Warding and Second Chance, and you have an enchantable weapon, you will want to consider using SWS/BT/LW (unless you instead opt to use a Moon/Blessed weapon of course, for your build or meta game choice). Naturally on Faith/Moon builds you're going to use un-enchantable weapon anyways, but if you're a Crushing/Sharp build, and you like the idea of having Warding in your stable, then feel free to switch up your setup as you see fit. Once you effectively hijack all of Freke's spells, there's no reason not to try it frankly, and no risk involved. You might like Warding as a backup in certain duels, but you might miss the damage of Curse in the long run. Your call. In the new meta, having both Curse and Warding is not uncommon due to the large number of players running Strength/Dexterity with Curse. Warding obviously improves the mirror match. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ (0016) - Weapon Buffs Part 2: Light Weapon versus Curse Weapon: Which and Why? ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ I contend that most of my writing is very accurate, and well-proven. However, since there is some debate on the nature of this, I can only offer my experience and the tested knowledge of others (notably TMR Raven). Each has its distinct set of advantages, and disadvantages. So, let's systematically go through those. The basics. How they work. - To boil it down to basic fundamentals, this is what you should know: 1) Curse Weapon affects your DAMAGE ONLY, and not your ATTACK RATING (AR). This is how much life your opponent loses AFTER ATTACK RATING (AR) VERSUS DEFENSE HAS BEEN CALCULATED. ONCE THIS FIGURE HAS BEEN CALCULATED YOU GET 50% MORE DAMAGE TO WHATEVER DAMAGE HITS YOUR OPPONENT'S HP BAR WHEN USING CURSE WEAPON. 2) Light Weapon affects your ATTACK RATING (AR) ONLY. This means that the bonus from Light Weapon is applied to your attack, and then your opponent's defence versus your AR is calculated, then DAMAGE APPLIES NORMALLY. They both work on fundamentally different levels. They apply their bonuses differently. Here's review the important points: A) Curse Weapon provides a 50% damage bonus as we discussed earlier (not a 50% bonus to your Attack Rating), Light weapon adds a static AR bonus (the bonus taken from a composite of your Magic stat and your wand's spell power). This is one of the larger points. What this means is that Curse Weapon isn't affected by outside factors when it comes to the damage bonus. You get 50% more damage after physical defence prevents damage... no questions asked. This also means that Light Weapon when used properly can add a large bonus to faster weapons (notably daggers) that Curse Weapon simply cannot rival. The Rule of Thumb is this: 30 MAGIC + LIGHT WEAPON + INSANITY CATALYST WILL OUTPERFORM CURSE WEAPON UP UNTIL ABOUT MID-300's IN AR! B) Curse Weapon requires much less stat investment to be used properly in unison with Second Chance (18 Intelligence, 16 Faith, and base Magic), Light Weapon requires much more (15 Intelligence, 16 Faith, 16-30 Magic). There's a 7-21 point difference there in a basic Temple Knight build. Note that Light Weapon shows promising gains up until about 30 Magic. ------------------------------------ Split Damage, and a theoretical test ------------------------------------ Curse Weapon's damage bonus is mathematical (or rather the damage bonus is a 50% mirror of the weapon it enchants), Light Weapon's AR bonus is magic. What this means is that you get better damage results regardless of the numerical output when using Curse Weapon since your opponent will only be resisting your overall physical damage. Look at damage, not the number on your character screen. Here's a theoretical example: 1) We have a 300 attack rating nondescript sword. 2) We can Curse Weapon this 300 attack rating sword. It's AR remains the same, but it's damage has increased by 50%. This bonus applies after Defense vs. AR is calculated. 3) We can Light Weapon this same weapon for 180 magical AR, to have a total of 300 physical AR and 180 magical AR (460 AR split 300/180). The figure of 180 AR is considered standard on Light Weapon with Insanity Catalyst equipped and 16 Magic. 4) Each enemy has both physical and magical AR resist (let's say on our example enemy resists 100 physical AR and 100 magical AR). Note that physical and magical AR resist is actually complicated to calculate on the fly, so we're going to use these arbitrary figures for simplicity's sake. 5) The Curse Weapon sword will deal 300 minus 100 (physical AR minus physical defence) for 200 damage on an successful attack. After this, the Cursed Weapon bonus is applied. The attack will instead deal 300 damage (200 damage +50%). 6) The Light Weapon sword will deal 300 minus 100 (physical AR minus physical defence) and 180 – 100 (magical AR minus magical defence) damage for a total of 280 damage on an successful attack. 7) The same test is conducted, except this time we have 30 Magic when we use our combo of Insanity Catalyst & Light Weapon. This time Light Weapon enchants our 300 damage nondescript sword for 240 magic AR (this is a arbitrary figure). 8) The Light Weapon sword will now deal 300 minus 100 (physical AR minus physical defence) and 240 – 100 (magical AR minus magical defence) damage for a total of 340 actual damage on an successful attack. ----------------------------------------------------------------- (0016) - Results and Conclusions on Light Weapon vs. Curse Weapon ----------------------------------------------------------------- The result is that more of our Curse Weapon bonus actually made it to the opponent's HP, and didn't get sucked up by magic defence initially. However, as we added a 30 Magic version of Light Weapon + Insanity Catalyst we got better results. These figures aren't accurate either, so keep that in mind. Now keep in mind, there are some cases where the AR on Light Weapon being magic is not relative (see: Blueblood Sword & Meat Cleaver). In both of these cases they have existing on-board magic damage that already "pierces" an opponent's magic defence. When either of these weapons are used with Light Weapon it will make a much larger impact in damage output. In both the cases of BBS and Cleaver Light Weapon is superior from a damage point. In the end, cracked Curse Weapon starts pulling away from Light Weapon + Insanity Catalyst + 30 Magic at about the mid-300's range (despite our “test” above Curse Weapon actually starts beating out Light Weapon at around the 340-ish range). This was only in the case of weapons with equal AR (which is arguably easier to get with the additional 21 stat points from using Curse Weapon). ------------------ === Final Note === ------------------ At the end of the day both are incredibly potent. Take this section with a grain of salt, and use what you like. Making a choice to use Light Weapon because if you like the color of one better that's a perfectly fair choice you can make. ----------------------------------------------------------- ===(0017) - Warding versus Second Chance: Which and Why?=== ----------------------------------------------------------- As you may have noticed, in all of the builds 16 Faith is mandatory. This is to access Second Chance, which I, and a good chunk (100%) of the PvP populace believe is superior to Warding. Let's discuss why in another point-by-point: - Warding provides a massive boost to physical defence. It costs 50MP, and 2 spell slots. It lasts for 40 seconds only, and must be rebuffed after its duration. It should be noted that the defence bonus granted by Warding does not hinge on Magic stat/Spell Assist like previously believed (it used to be widely believed that Warding's effectiveness was determined by Magic stat, but I can tell you that with my diligent testing that this simply isn't the case). This means it retains its full effectiveness with a Cracked ToB. - Second Chance returns you to life with 50% of your life total once you die. It costs 100MP, and two miracle slots. It lasts indefinitely (until it's "broken"), then must be reapplied. - Warding wears off within its 40 seconds, Second Chance doesn't. This is probably one of the larger advantages to Second Chance (SC). - Second Chance provides an advantage against magic damage while Warding doesn't. This is especially important with the arbitrarily large number of Faith builds out there, and the growing number of battle mages sporting deadly Moon weapons, and of course the ever looming threat of BBS. This advantage SC holds over Warding is massive. - Warding protects much better then SC in situations where it's good. This is great when your opponent is smacking extra hard with Curse Weapon Crushing/Sharp weapons allowing you to take several hits with little worry instead of 3-5. - Warding can be cast quickly in combat, and is very difficult to interrupt. This is important for a spell that has a 40 second time limit, and/or you're in heated combat. Mainly, being able to cast it in combat rather easily makes it a large boon. ------------ The Verdict: ------------ - Overall SC wins, it's simply much more diverse. Keep reading however. Not having to reapply it, and its enduring degree of usefulness in every situation simply beats Warding's set of advantages. If you have to choose one, always choose SC. That doesn't discourage me from saying using Warding is incredibly good too in unison with SC. The meta-game is shifting towards players using both Warding and Second Chance if they can swing it (battle mages, Faith builds, NR builds, and even Dexterity builds with 2 Katanas are throwing out Curse Weapon in favor of Warding). With the rapid cast speed on Warding, it's easy to use in heated combat (unlike the slow casting speed of SC). The fact that some of the advanced Katana players switched to Warding and buffing with Sticky White Stuff/Black Turpentine is a very strong testament to how good Warding is in the ever-evolving meta. While Strength/BBS builds largely may not access it without sacrificing their very essential buffs, I expect at higher levels of play Warding backups post cracking SC will become a considerable contender, and likely more common. Also, other than time, there's virtually no sacrifice to learning it (level to 10 Magic, learn Warding, decrease back to base 6, use Yuria to remember spells). As of the latest update (ver. 1.4) a large shift in builds using both SC and Warding has become common. If I were to make a build tomorrow, it would likely use both. =================================== ----------------------------------- Warding Performance by Aneed4speed: ----------------------------------- =================================== "So in my invading session today I was lucky enough to come across quite a few 'Warders' who managed to give me a few backstabbing opportunities. I recorded the damage inflicted with Warding on and off - thanks to cousin who has nothing better to do. Anyways here are the figures: My SL was 100, and Dex at 34. I was using a Cursed Sharp Uchigatana +5. I got to BS 4 blues both with and without Warding. The hosts all had SC... nice combination IMO. It should be noted I was also wearing a Foe's Ring. Blue #1 - 356 damage with Warding - 1106 damage without Warding (lethal) (Damage cut to 31%) Blue #2 - 312 damage with Warding - 1005 damage without Warding (lethal) (Damage cut to 32%) Blue #3 - 398 damage with Warding - 1178 damage without Warding (lethal) (Damage cut to 29%) Blue #4 - 298 damage with Warding - 1002 damage without Warding (lethal) (Damage cut to 33%) Warding does work!" ------------------------ Additional notes by EWGF ------------------------ This supports my long-standing theory that Warding cuts damage by about 66%-71% or so, to about a 3rd or less. EDIT: There seems to be a surplus of people that are now convinced that you can OHKO through a SC, but this is untrue. ------------------------------------------------------------ ===(0018) - Negative Status (Plague vs. Poison vs. Bleed)=== ------------------------------------------------------------ Alright, there are 3 negative status effects in the game: - Bleed - Poison - Plague Right out of the gate I'll tell you that Bleed is total junk. Yes, I said it. I don't care if it's the 600 Bleed damage from a +5 Makoto, it's still outright trash. Forget Bleed, it sucks. The problem with Bleed is that damage over time by itself is a total joke. You can heal through it with relative ease, while with Plague/Poison this can be a little more risky and difficult. The real competition here is between Poison and Plague. Let's review: - Poison steadily lowers HP (rated at 5HP per second). It also cuts heal effectiveness in half. Endurance governs one’s ability to resist Poison. Weapons that can inflict Poison can do so through shield blocks. - Plague is basically the same thing with a few fundamental differences. Life loss over time (variable), and halved heal effectiveness. However it has one large advantage over Poison: it slows stamina recovery dramatically. Luck is the stat that determines resistance to Plague. That being said, BBS builds are quite resilient to infection. Weapons that can inflict Plague can do so through shield blocks. Q: So, Plague is the best right? Screw Poison! A: Yes, basically. The stamina penalty on Plague gives it many more uses then Poison. Poison still has its merits however... notably being stacked with Plague for a more dramatic effect. Poison also has more, and cheaper delivery methods: For Plague you have Baby's Nail and Death Cloud (2 slots, 30mp). For Poison you have Mercury weapons, and Poison Cloud (1 slot, 15mp). It should also be noted Kunai are great jamming attempts at recasting Second Chance, and as a defensive tactic against Running Firestorm. ------------------------------------------------------- (0018) - Negative Status: When should I use it and Why? ------------------------------------------------------- --------------------------------------------------------------------------- NOTE: DUPED DARKMOON GRASS FREQUENTLY INVALIDATES ANY ATTEMPT TO USE STATUS --------------------------------------------------------------------------- BE FOREWARNED! -------------- I'm a sincere advocate of Negative Status. However, in the North American meta, widespread duping has invalidated it as a tactic. There are only four cases in which it still sees play (excluding players you will want to use it on): 1) Low-level invasion. 2) Certain league/tournament formats. 3) Low-Grass/No-Grass casuals. 4) Invasion in which the enemy has no DMG. If you're in a duel in which Negative Status is allowed, and grassing is restricted (or your opponent simply has no DMG) status attacks still aren't good to constantly push. Only certain players qualify for it: - Against dedicated Turtles. - Against Faith builds as a low-damage build. - Anyone else without DMG who's not packing a weapon that can 3-shot you. A Faith player against a passive Estoc turtle you will want to land Plague very early. This forces them to play more aggressively since you have regeneration, and their general strategy is light attrition combined with error punishing. Also, any build will likely want to use Plague against a turtle simply due to the fact attempts to crush a guard will improve greatly if your enemy is infected. Faith also presents some problems for certain Hybrids/Spell-Swords due to gouged magic defence reducing opposing magic damage quite low combined with constant regen. Stacking statuses on certain Faith players can be beneficial. Anyone tapped of DMG and who's not rolling with a LW BBS or anything with "Purple Death" is a decent candidate for status attacks. The worst play in the game is trying to Nail anyone with a Cursed Kilij/Pole/Katana and getting dropped from one 3-hit combo with a Sais. ------------------------------------------------------- (0019) - Counter Hit, the Demon's Souls Critical System ------------------------------------------------------- --------------------------------- Q: EWGF, What is a "Counter Hit"? --------------------------------- ------- Answer: ------- Counter Hit (CH) is the only crit-like system found in DS (versus other RPGs where criticals are often "rolled or proc" based on a calculation). Unlike other RPGs however, the CH system is largely based on specific factors and mostly doesn't randomly trip. In addition to providing damage, it can also increase the time required to recover from hit-stun. The only other arguably similar system is Direct Hit, which varies slightly, and generally only applies to certain weapons (and is much weaker). ---------------------------------- CH applies around 40% more damage! ---------------------------------- ----------------------------------------------------- All damage in DS works in a fundamentally simple way: ----------------------------------------------------- - AR is totalled (including Hyper/Weapon buffs, aside from Curse Weapon). - Modifiers are added by swing/BS/Riposte bonuses are added. YES, THIS MEANS RIPOSTES AND BACKSTABS CAN POTENTIALLY TRIP FOR 40% MORE DAMAGE. - Defense calculation is applied (likely at this point). - This point is likely where CT, WT, and Friend/Foe bonuses are likely applied. Presumably they all stack simultaneously (and aren't applied in layers). It's quite possible that these bonuses apply before defence calculations as well. - Counter Hit/Curse Weapon bonuses (if applicable) are added likely last. This means damage is incredibly static (although I'm uncertain of how the damage mechanics truly apply to Counter Hit, and 'when' in regards to Defense vs. AR calculation). However if an opponent stands without defending themselves and you hit them repeatedly with the same strike, damage will always provide the same value time-and-time again. It will seldom vary (except by a couple points, or with Direct-Hit capable weapons). Weapon performance is incredibly stable due to this. CH can modify mostly anything, and from my tests (my current ones, with more upcoming) I've learned that CH applies a bonus of roughly 38-41% (it least in the case of PBCT BPs wearing Foe). I've found I was getting 39.5-ish% rather consistently with both spells, swings, and BSes under my test parameters. It Also works with spells. ------------------------------------- Q: EWGF, how to I score Counter Hits? ------------------------------------- ------- Answer: ------- Your chances of CH are seldom controlled. There's only a few sure-fire ways to score a Counter Hit that can be easily controlled (push to slash), while the rest are seemingly random. Here are some ways (note "some") a CH is scored: - Attacks landed after a successful push - Attacks landed while an opponent is sprinting - Attacks landed after a shield guard is blown - Attacks landed at the beginning/end of a roll that successfully hit - Non-riposte attacks landed after an opponent has been successfully parried - Riposte attacks landed after an opponent has been parried can trip a CH too! - Attacks landed while an opponent is swinging (some swings are exempt) Aside from push, Counter Hits will occur normally through the course of combat. They are seldom controlled... however knowing what causes them to occur can potentially save you from being on the receiving end on occasion (notably not sprinting constantly during a duel will cut down on opposing CHs). ---------------- ===Techniques=== ---------------- "Technique is what you fall back on when you run out of inspiration." - Rudolf Nureyev PvP at its most basic levels can be boiled down to two things: - Spacing - Timing attacks Correct spacing is fundamental in achieving victory in PvP as well as properly timing attacks. This in PvP in its most rudimentary form, and as such should always be considered. With that being said both of these things are incredibly intuitive. You will generally attack when you believe you can land a hit, and space yourself and evade to avoid being hit. There isn't much to say there. However, there are a near infinite other techniques involved in blocking, using specific weapons, parrying, backstabbing, and other techniques that are slightly less intuitive. All weapon setups except one can be boiled down to making a series of basic judgment calls on when to swing, and what swing to use. --------------------------------------------- ===(0020) - Off-hand Katana/dual wielding === --------------------------------------------- It goes like this: Due to the high off-hand swing speed of Katana, you can chain off-hand swings with main-hand pushes. Only certain weapons have the push speed available to make this work (other Katanas, 1-handed Swords, Daggers, Spears, Poles etc). This stunlock is *mostly* inescapable if performed correctly with the right main-hand weapon. Also, since all your attacks are preceded by a push, you do 40% bonus damage due to Counter-Hit status. At high levels of play, this is one of the setups you'll see commonly. It should be noted that this extends beyond a main hand Katana (although a main-hand Katana is probably the most well-rounded because of its ability to open with the running slash). Players have used everything from Winged Spears to Sais as main-hand choices. --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Q: Help! I'm having major problems fight against 2x katanas! What can I do? --------------------------------------------------------------------------- A: Of all setups I get mail/questions about, handling tough dual Katana players is the most common aside from poles. Rapier/Shield combo is the only truly less-than-favourable matchup for katanas. The blocking poke punishes them at almost every turn, and almost completely eliminates BS games. The same could be said about Spear/Shield combos using while-blocking pokes, but it's not quite as effective. The only clear counter a katana player has is the relative ease of parrying blocking pokes. Cursed Poles can still kill a person regardless of skill levels with complete ease. Also, 2-handed R2 has Hyper Armor, which allows you to use it much like a Great Axe R1. Pole R2 into a R1 string has some merits, letting you swing suicidally into potential deadly katana strings much like a Great Axe, and make a trade in your favor. It also stun-locks. Great Axe still has its Hyper Armor 1-2-3 combo which can punish sloppy katana thrusts (or anything) with a swift death. Mindless play is also very Parry-punishable. If the spam their push combo into a legit block, you can parry the push quite easily. Stun Breaking (see below). ------------------------------------- (0021) - Push/Stun Breaking (updated) ------------------------------------- Stun breaking is a relatively new tactic (see: glitch) that can be used to escape almost every stun (including off-hand katana pushlock). I've included it here because of its relativity to katana stuns. The method is hilariously simple: - A well-timed weapon switch while hit (no joke, you literally hit the D-Pad). What this does is cause a stagger to be interrupted by the weapon switch animation allowing you to roll out. It's not limited to push-locks either, and works nicely on poles and other R1 stuns. It also will not work on Dagger/Claw push-locks (the locks that solely use pushes with Light Weapon... not the off-hand Katana locks). --------------------------- === Fireball Stun Break === --------------------------- It will also work on Fireball stuns, which is important since Pivot Casting has become incredibly good, and Fireball setups are a massive part of their game. ----------------- HOW DOES IT WORK? ----------------- As I've said, it causes a stagger to be interrupted by the weapon switch animation which allows you to roll out/block etc. But, there are some complicated game systems behind this. Things to consider: The properties on toggle escape are complicated to say the least. Lighter stuns can be almost entirely negated. In-fact if you were skilled enough, many combos would never go beyond the 1st hit, but it's not realistic to proactively toggle weapons every time you suspect you may be hit (in advance no less). Even the people that use it don't know how it works. You see, people think when they use toggle that they're "reducing the stun" of the previous hit that has just connected. This is incorrect. What they're actually doing is cancelling the stun of the following hit before it even connects. Much like a parry, it’s happening before you can see it. The Golden Rule: LIGHT STUNS CAN BE BROKEN AT THE BEGINNING, WHILE HEAVIER STUNS CAN BE BROKEN AT VARIOUS POINTS. ----------------------------------------------------------------------- (0022) - Parrying in PvP: Setup Parries & Blind Parries: a brief primer ----------------------------------------------------------------------- --------------------------------------------------------- The difference between parries in PvP and parries in PvM: --------------------------------------------------------- In PvM parrying is simple. You use a visual reference of your opponent's attack to properly time a successful parry. In PvP, it's not like that due to lag (thus the consensus that parrying it impossible). However, it can still be done with almost the same level of accuracy as in PvM once you get used to it. Don't just go out and randomly try to parry in PvP without some practice. Try a friendly Red Stone duel with somebody you know to puzzle out the timing. Bring a whole host of unmodified/clean weapons to practice with. Switch back and forth between them constantly, and get a feel for each one. Each weapon in both 1-handed and 2-handed stance has a different parry window. Familiarize yourself with the ones you're used to seeing. ---------------- THE GOLDEN RULE: ---------------- Poles, Large Swords, Spears, Rapiers, and Uchigatanas provide plenty of easy to high-difficulty parries depending on what you choose to parry. Guillotine Axe and BBS are generally high-difficulty R1 Setup Parries with a couple easy alternate Setups sprinkled in. Some weapons, like Kilij simply aren't worth the exceedingly high risk of a whiff due to the difficulty. If you're not comfortable parrying it, don't force it if in a difficult duel. Save it for opponents that aren't exactly top-notch. Perfect it in practice first... then apply it to PvP. We are going to talk about 2 types of parries (the only 2): - Setup Parries - Blind Parries -------------------------------- (0022.i) - Setup Parries & Notes ------------------------------- 1) You are required to block the first hit (as such a shield must be used... off-hand parrying weapons will not work). Also, this makes unblockable weapons impossible to parry due to staggers, although Blind/LSoM can be Blind Parried. 2) Once the first hit is blocked you are ready to parry the following strike if your opponent follows up with another R1 hit without delay. This won’t work on every potential R1 string. Note: There is no visual reference to follow due to lag... but generally after the first hit lands, immediately perform a parry (they may not even be swinging yet) to land a successful parry. Certain slow weapons require a slight delay (“delay” being relative... we're talking about milliseconds here). 3) After the first hit lands on your shield... parry almost immediately regardless of what is represented visually if you believe the opponent will attack. 4) If you successfully parry, don't panic. If you hit R1 too quickly, you'll

simply swing normally. Take your time to land the riposte. ----------------------------- Look for other combo starters ----------------------------- Also note that R1 strings aren't your only setups. Remember, anything that can possibly lead to an R1 string is a candidate for leading into a setup parry. Often they're better due to the larger delay between the swing, and the R1 slashes. Notably while-dashing (WD) and while-rolling (WR) strikes to R1 strings are good setups that people believe are safe because they aren’t strict R1 spam. This holds up especially good for R1 strings that are normally incredibly difficult to parry at 1st (BBS, Guillotine Axe). Here are 3 examples of potential setup parries against 1-Handed Swords in a double grip: 2h BBS: 1) R1 > R1 (parry) > R1 (parry) > R1 > R1 2) WD R1 > R1 (parry) > R2 > R2 3) WR R1 > R1 (parry) > R2 > R2 The WD/WR parries are much easier then the 1st parry shown here. This pattern is similar for other weapons. ------------------------- (0022.ii) - Blind Parries ------------------------- Blind Parries are parrying the first hit in a string of attacks (being "blind" for almost a total lack of assumption). Once you get use to Setup Parries you can generally give Blind Parries a shot. ------------- Surprise Love ------------- Basically, your reads on your opponent have to be much better since you don't have the time to puzzle what you're going to do while blocking R1 spam. This makes Blind Parries much more dangerous in nature, and prone to whiffing. You have to commit to a Blind Parry, and you also don't have the luxury of a raised shield beforehand to repel swings. -------------- The Advantages -------------- The clear advantages are that since you're not fishing for R1 strings you can parry opponents that expect Setup Parries and do not R1 spam into a raised shield. You can also parry single attacks that aren't normally followed by a second swing. Also, since you aren't required to block the first hit, parrying weapons can be used. ----------------------------------- Some Ideal Swings for Blind Parries ----------------------------------- The best swings to parry under these circumstances are while-dashing (WD) and while-rolling (WR) swings as they can be spotted and accurately predicted. Here are some to get you started: - WD/WR 1h/2h R1 katana strikes (WD katana strike is a difficult parry, even if accurately predicted) - WD/WR 1h/2h R1 BBS strikes - WR 1h/2h R1 Estoc strikes - WD/WR 1h/2h R1 pole strikes (you seldom see these sadly) - WR 2h R1 Large Sword strike - WD/WR 1h/2h R1 Spear strikes & 1h R2 Don’t let my meager instruction limit you. If you find a swing that makes for an easy Blind, whore it. ------------------------------- Trick to the Katana WD R1 parry ------------------------------- A lot of people emailed me about this one, saying their results were very ho-hum, and they were unhappy. Here's the trick to it to help you aspiring parry players out: - Parry the katana players hand, not the blade itself, and you will see improved results. This means moving towards a predicted Katana thrust unprotected which is very, very against the nature of a seasoned player. This is a wacky Blind once you get the hang of it, and you'll end up behind them and in all kinds of weird places after scoring a parry due to the fact they often keep their forward momentum. This is also likely the sexiest parry in the game. ----------------------------------------- (0022.iii) - A few final notes on parries ----------------------------------------- ------------------------- Special Parry Conditions: ------------------------- ------------ 1) Hit Parry ------------ You can get hit-staggered but still score a successful parry, And if you're quick enough you can still land your riposte too. Sprint quickly towards your opponent once your hit stagger ends, and attempt a riposte. It will often land once you get used to the rhythm. Sometimes you will do a glitchy WD R1 right through them that looks pretty sweet. They'll slump to the ground in a normal riposte animation and take normal riposte damage. ---------------- 2) Partial Parry ---------------- Sometimes you will attempt a parry, and be unsuccessful... yet something odd will happen: you will los