Dark Souls

[Sheikah]

Pyromancy doesn't scale with any magic stat, that's what's so great about it. You just buy it, and you can upgrade your pyro glove using souls to do more damage.

 

Since you killed that guy you can always use either the woman by the pillar outside of the Queelag boss (where those giants are rolling rocks around) or uncover the Queen of Chaos (where you ring the bell after the Queelag boss, it's a hidden wall you have to hit downstairs). The merchant guy there lets you upgrade your glove/buy some pyro spells and the queen herself gives you a good free spell just for joining.

[Dan_Dare]

Terrific news. Glad I've not missed the boat entirely. out of curiosity, how did you free him?

[Sheikah]

Free who? The merchant by the Queen of Chaos is just there from the start, he's covered in eggs but that's how he's meant to be. A common thing is for people to attack him thinking he's a monster, make sure not to do that!

[Dan_Dare]

Sorry, the one in the barrel. I swung to break it and hit him at the same time, which made him attack me.

[Sheikah]

Oh, I rolled, purely by accident since I was breaking all the other barrels. Yeah that's the way to do it apparently to not aggro him.

 

Luckily I bought Iron Flesh off him (probably one of the best spells in the game) before I told him about the pyro merchant in the swamp, if you tell him then he goes off and becomes a hollow unfortunately.

[Dan_Dare]

One for the next character, then! I'm thinking of a pyro ninja :P

[drahkon]

The first time I need help. I've rang the first bell (in the Undead Church) and now I'm in Blighttown. But the poisonous swamp fucks me up every time. Do I need to be there or should I go somewhere else? The problem is: I don't know if I make it back...right now it's kind of tough for me. I don't have sorcery/miracles, just a short bow. The only good weapon I have is the Drake sword.

So: What to do?

[MATtheHAT]

If you are in the swamp right at the bottom of Blighttown, then you aren't far from the boss. Presumably you are at the bonfire in the tunnel, I would suggest returning to human form if you have some humanity. Then wait for the black phantom to invade (drops a nice weapon), you can then summon her to fight the boss making it much easier.

[Dan_Dare]

The first time I need help. I've rang the first bell (in the Undead Church) and now I'm in Blighttown. But the poisonous swamp fucks me up every time. Do I need to be there or should I go somewhere else? The problem is: I don't know if I make it back...right now it's kind of tough for me. I don't have sorcery/miracles, just a short bow. The only good weapon I have is the Drake sword.

So: What to do?

 

You're at the bonfire?

Go right. TBH without poison cures (purple moss, it drops abundantly from the tree people in darkroot garden) you're in for a world of hurt whatever you do but if you can make it up the waterwheel (go as high as you can on every ladder but mind the toxic darts) there's eventually a path back to Firelink and a key to open it up. It's a hugely valuable shortcut, though there are three poison club guys guarding it.

 

 

If you are in the swamp right at the bottom of Blighttown, then you aren't far from the boss. Presumably you are at the bonfire in the tunnel, I would suggest returning to human form if you have some humanity. Then wait for the black phantom to invade (drops a nice weapon), you can then summon her to fight the boss making it much easier.

 

How does the phantom thing work, exactly? Is it just a matter of time once you're unhollowed or is it something else? I've only seen two and killed one.

Edited October 22, 2011 by Dan_Dare

[drahkon]

Do I even have to be in Blighttown at this point of the game? I need to ring the second bell, but I forgot where to find it...

[Sheikah]

The second bell is after Queelag's Domain which is indeed in the Blighttown swamp.

 

There's an easier way to skip most of Blighttown but it only works for now if you chose the Master Key as your gift. It basically involves going to Firelink, going down the stairs and down the lift to New Londo Ruins, then immediately going to the set of stairs to the right to the Valley of Drakes. Then there's an entrance to Blighttown with most of the level skipped.

 

You're at the bonfire?

 

 

How does the phantom thing work, exactly? Is it just a matter of time once you're unhollowed or is it something else? I've only seen two and killed one.

 

If you play through some areas in human form before you've cleared the boss of that area you can be invaded by NPC or player black phantoms. If you kill the NPCs they drop stuff, some of which you need for the rare item collection trophy (like in Valley of Giants, there's one called Leeroy).

 

Wandering about in human form also allows you to be invaded by real player black phantoms, who basically used a cracked red eye stone or the Darkwraith covenant to invade you. If they're within a certain level range of you then they can invade you, but the downside for them is they can't use Estus (can steal heal via humanity).

 

 

Here's a mega, mega tip for all. In the Darkroot Forest (place you get to by the blacksmith after buying the key for 20k from him) there's a butterfly boss. Kill it for its boss soul. Get a generic cracked shield to +10 (most shields work, but a few knight shield type weapons don't) then go to the giant blacksmith in Anor Londo. Get him to turn this into the Crystal Ring Shield.

 

Despite the name it isn't crystal and it's fully repairable. What this does is you equip it to your left hand, and have your weapon in your right. If you press L2 you now fire a disc of light that does roughly double the damage of the weapon in your right hand. It uses 3 durability of the shield each time but costs are minimal. This a good way to do mega damage - obviously the more you level strength, the better a weapon you can afford to put in your right hand (if you don't meet the pre-reqs, the shield damage will be gimped).

Edited October 23, 2011 by Sheikah

[MATtheHAT]

100 Hours in, and this game still has me hooked. 80% of the Trophies and just finishing up New Game+. The unique weapon trophy is going to be time consuming. Also, the slabs for weapon ascension are going to take time to aquire, not quite the farm fest Demon's Souls was though.

 

I've had Arkham City and Battlefield 3 delivered and barely touched, I also need to start the Deus Ex DLC, but I just can't seem to take the DS disc out!

 

Maybe Uncharted 3 can pull me away? (I still want to get into the multiplayer, I enjoyed what little I played, and prefer it to BF3).

[Sheikah]

I got the platinum for this the other day. Getting the slabs is actually the easiest part since you get all you need through the required 2.5ish playthroughs (you need 3 of Sif's soul, and then on the third playthrough you need to have reached the giant blacksmith to forge the last weapon). Titanite slab as I recall is the only one you need 3 of, but these seem to drop fairly common from the crystal lizards around Ash Lake. Also drop rarely from Darkwraiths.

[drahkon]

I'm in the Depths and I'm cursed...what now? I hardly had a chance when I wasn't cursed...

[Dan_Dare]

you can buy cures - 3000 from the merchant in the parish belltower and 6000 from the zombie merchant in the shortcut between firelink and the depths. 3000 is no problem- if you go round the parish twice you'll get what you need.

[Sheikah]

Yeah cursing seems a bit of a raw deal here but remember that when you died in Demon's Souls you were effectively cursed (halved HP) whenever you died and weren't in human form anymore!

 

Best bet for 3k souls is to just run to the forest area. It's like 2-3k souls per kill there, very nice indeed.

 

I would also suggest getting the cursebite ring for Seath the scaleless. And even better, forging the Crystal Ring Shield. CRS can really help out for NG+ and NG++.

 

Just upgrading the pyromancy flame to +15, then turning it into an advanced flame using the witch by the entrance to Queelag's domain will give you a really powerful weapon that works wonders with the CRS. It does effectively 700-900 damage and is a ranged attack.

Edited October 31, 2011 by Sheikah

[Pit-Jr]

Yeah cursing seems a bit of a raw deal here but remember that when you died in Demon's Souls you were effectively cursed (halved HP) whenever you died and weren't in human form anymore!

 

Best bet for 3k souls is to just run to the forest area. It's like 2-3k souls per kill there, very nice indeed.

 

I would also suggest getting the cursebite ring for Seath the scaleless. And even better, forging the Crystal Ring Shield. CRS can really help out for NG+ and NG++.

 

I feel dirty using the Forest for grinding but then again everything is outrageously expensive and most enemies yield a paltry amount of souls.

 

Will absolution allow you to rejoin the Forest Convenant? I loved the PvP battles there.

[Sheikah]

I feel dirty using the Forest for grinding but then again everything is outrageously expensive and most enemies yield a paltry amount of souls.

 

Will absolution allow you to rejoin the Forest Convenant? I loved the PvP battles there.

Absolution should let you rejoin, it undoes any hostilities between NPCs.

 

Forest battles are good but unbalanced, as far as I know there is no level matching involved unfortunately. Doing dragon duels at the Kiln of the First Flame (final area) later is great fun though. It's awesome when you kill someone and they get into such rage that they start sending flame messages.

 

For NG+ the best strategy I have for bosses is this - Crystal Ring Shield, Iron Flesh.

[drahkon]

Arrived in Anor Londo just now. Is there a way to get back? And the most important question: Is there a way to travel back to some bonfires via some kind of teleport item/spell? I want to get back to Firelink Shrine but it appears to be a hell of a walk.

 

This game just keeps getting better and better. It's a shame really that Skyrim will be out in a week and I will probably ditch Dark Souls for a while.

 

Oh, and thanks Sheikah for telling me what happened to the

dead Fire Keeper in Firelink Shrine.

 

[Sheikah]

Np,

 

You get the ability to teleport right after defeating the Anor Londo boss. It only lets you travel to certain bonfires though, Firelink is one, as well as most covenant situated bonfires. Good thing is that even though you can only travel to a selection of bonfires, you can travel from almost all of them.

[drahkon]

Great, thank you very much.

 

I have another question: Haven't upgraded anything so far, because I don't quite get it.

I can upgrade normal weapons with Titanite shards/chunks, right? But what do I do with Large Ember for example? I gave it to the Blacksmith in Undead Parish, near Darkroot Garden. What can I do now? Do I first have to upgrade a standard weapon in order to ascend it? And what do I need to do to upgrade a weapon with boss souls, and is it worth it?

[Sheikah]

There are 4 blacksmiths in the game, each handles different weapon upgrades (e.g. crystal, lightning, chaos). To do these upgrades you need to get the relevant ember and bring it to them.

 

Every weapon can be upgraded to +5 using any blacksmith or even the upgrade box at bonfires. When you get to +5, however, you can send it to +6 only if you have the large ember and give it to Andre. You can only go from +5 to +6 using Andre the blacksmith, not at the bonfire. You do this by selecting "modify equipment" and going along to the tab that deals with +5 to +6 weapon ascension. After the weapon has become +6, you can continue to upgrade it to +10 using the bonfire or any blacksmith, using the reinforce weapon section (not the modify equipment).

 

To recap, 'modify equipment' is to give a weapon a property, and the property you want will dictate which blacksmith you will need and which ember you will have had to give him. Modifying equipment (apart from catalyst weapons) always requires the weapon/shield to be at some whole number, either +5 or +10).

 

A typical upgrade example:

 

You want a Fire Uchigatana + 10. To do this, you can use the bonfire/any blacksmith to upgrade it to +5 (using Titanite Shards). You then visit Blacksmith Vamos in the catacombs who can modify it into a fire Uchigatana + 0 by default (he doesn't need an ember for this). You then require 13 green titanite shards to upgrade it to a +5 Fire Uchigatana. To then get this above +5 you need to find the large fire ember and give it to Vamos. Vamos can then modify the +5 Fire Uchigatana into a +6 Fire Uchigatana. You then can use the bonfire/any blacksmith to upgrade the weapon to Fire Uchigatana + 10. Note that going from +6 to +10 mostly requires Red Titanite Chunks, but the last upgrade from +9 to +10 requires a red titanite slab (rare). The last upgrade on any weapon/armour usually requires a slab of some sort.

 

So yeah, specific blacksmiths and embers are required to modify a weapon, so that it can reach the next 'stage' if you like. But once it's reached that stage, you can further upgrade it at the bonfire or any blacksmith.

 

 

This image helps in terms of telling you which blacksmith/ember you require for each type of weapon, as well as how many titanite ores and which types you need to max each weapon.

 

[drahkon]

Interesting. I might make myself a magic weapon sometime.

 

Think I screwed things up a bit. The Pyromancer who upgrades the Pyromancer Flame is gone...I read that he is back in Blighttown and will attack me. So, no chance for me to upgrade the flame in this playthrough?

 

I have now acquired the Lord Vessel. Getting it felt like an incredible accomplishment, but after placing it on the Firelink Altar it seems like the game has only just begun. Any tips on where to go/train/get weapons or armor next?

[Pit-Jr]

Interesting. I might make myself a magic weapon sometime.

 

Think I screwed things up a bit. The Pyromancer who upgrades the Pyromancer Flame is gone...I read that he is back in Blighttown and will attack me. So, no chance for me to upgrade the flame in this playthrough?

 

I have now acquired the Lord Vessel. Getting it felt like an incredible accomplishment, but after placing it on the Firelink Altar it seems like the game has only just begun. Any tips on where to go/train/get weapons or armor next?

 

Both surviving Chaos sisters can both upgrade your pyromancy flame. If you join the Chaos covenant, youll have an easy warp back to upgrade your flame when you gather the insane amount of souls necessary

[drahkon]

Since you killed that guy you can always use either the woman by the pillar outside of the Queelag boss (where those giants are rolling rocks around) or uncover the Queen of Chaos (where you ring the bell after the Queelag boss, it's a hidden wall you have to hit downstairs). The merchant guy there lets you upgrade your glove/buy some pyro spells and the queen herself gives you a good free spell just for joining.

 

I killed the guy guarding the Queen of Chaos.

And the woman outside of the Queelag boss area won't spawn. But I want to upgrade my pyromancer flame...

Edited November 7, 2011 by drahkon