i loved ds1 and dropped ds2 part way through

died several times but managed to take him down using the walls

Oh wow you went with that class?
Really digging yourself an early grave

If you want tips about something specifically let me know
I've beaten the game 10 times now (8 difficulties + 2 more runs on different builds)

This post was edited by FroggyG on May 24 2016 12:53am

fking christ that was hard, took 10+ tries and i almost lost all the souls i got off that blue lizard thing



which stats should i avoid completely? i'm thinking luck is useless - planning on going for some kind of sword + shield build that's agile and tanky

Luck is a specialized build

On a Sword+Board build you want Strength, Endurance, Vigor with enough Vitality to keep your weight load under 70% (or else you roll slow)
Long Sword, Broad Sword, Dark Sword are all very good for this

I would start with Vigor and Strength

This post was edited by FroggyG on May 24 2016 01:05am

gotcha - any use for intelligence/faith? i'd imagine dex is necessary at some point

You can do a well rounded Str+Dex build infused with Refined Gem (medium increase Str+Dex scaling) but you might not have enough Str to carry the bigger shields in the game
Or you can infuse your weapon with Heavy Gem (heavy increased Str scaling) and focus on Str

I like heavy gem + strength because strength also increases physical defense.

Intelligence is purely for casting builds
Faith makes miracles more effective (and some weapons have decent faith scaling)
But unnecessary for the build you're going for, although you can do this if you want


If you do decide that you want some casting
Once you get to Illrithyl you can get a miracle called Lighting Blade that buffs your weapon super strong
This ability scales on Faith

You can get Astora Straight Sword in the second area of the game (a big Castle) that scales on Str/Faith if you choose to go this build
You'll be relatively weaker until you get a good miracle

This post was edited by FroggyG on May 24 2016 01:26am

that str/faith sword sounds interesting, will do a lot of youtubing to find more about these builds

There's a lot of builds you can do

I think the easiest one to beat the game with is just grab a huge massive shield and just hide behind it with with a Heavy Gem +10 LongSword or DarkSword

A lot of the most experienced players run some Lightning Blade builds because of the insane damage

But if you're not going to use Miracles/Pyromancy/Sorcery you won't need Int/Faith
If you don't go Hollow weapon you don't need Luck

If you get multiple miracles, each 4 points in attunement gives another ability slot (and bigger mana pool)
Otherwise don't bother with it

Many ways to build

This post was edited by FroggyG on May 24 2016 01:38am

DS2 is the worst in the series, including Demon Souls