first magic build

So I've had darksouls since its release and I've never bothered to make a magic build but I've just picked the game back up in anticipation of the dks2 release (really need to brush up on some skills lol) anyway as I've never used magic before I would imagine with some of the bosses it could be quite difficult to solely rely on it so advice,tips etc lads would be much appreciated (sorry wrong section could someone please move thanks)

http://mugenmonkey.com/darksouls/?c=405378933772079989

This is the build I'm running currently. It's intended for PVP use eventually, but just playing through PVE has been very cool. I would say it's far from perfect, but it's suiting me just fine and after NG Sens it became a walking powerhouse. I'm currently at NG+, just rang the Belfry Bell, and besides Manus and Kalameet most of the bosses have been pretty sweet.

Most bosses will actually fall quite quickly to magic, even Seathe was slapped silly by my Soul Spears/Crystal SS, and don't even start me on Dark Bead. The worst thing about a magic build I've found is the lack of HP early on; I left Vitality at base and relied on Ring of FaP to keep me alive.
I'd say so long as you keep to fast roll speed and are competent at dodging/blocking incoming attacks you shouldn't have too much trouble.

Anyway that about my two cents, I haven't had TOO much experience with mages so you might want to wait until Shadow or someone more versed in the intricacies of online magic use etc. pops in and offers their insights.

get to dark bread ASAP and no boss will trouble you. avoid split damage weapons as it has a bigger damage reduction and get your hands on a chaos weapon for the dukes archives

Seaths Tail, Moonlight GS is a nifty magic scaled weapon with special R2's.

Undiscovery wrote:Seaths Tail, Moonlight GS is a nifty magic scaled weapon with special R2's.

Oh yes this is very true. Another good weapon is the Moonlight Butterfly Horn, which requires 12 STR to wield in one hand.
A nice little coincidence is that at 12 STR you can also two-hand the Moonlight Greatsword, making it a very tidy cap for the STR stat IMO.

On the topic of weapons; while what Raecor said about Chaos weapons is true, I found the Enchanted ascension to be very effective for damage early on. The smith and embers required for this type of ascension are also easy to get to early on in the game.
Enchanted damage was especially usefull when coupled with the regular dagger (you have the stats to wield this from the start, assuming you choose Sorcerer) and backstabs (probably the safest way for a frail character to deal melee damage; those invincibility frames on the BS animation saved my life more than a few times).

Something worth noting is that I ran my INT up to 50 almost immediately, only dropping points into ATT when I could afford to buy a new spell, so I had the scaling for that damage type at optimum levels pretty early on.

Here's my Glass Canon build. Get cursed too. http://mugenmonkey.com/darksouls/?c=153206789898587719

This will allow you to run PW and have the RTSR active without dying. It is insanely powerful. It does over 1800 damage to Manus on NG.

reim0027 wrote:Here's my Glass Canon build.  Get cursed too.  http://mugenmonkey.com/darksouls/?c=153206789898587719

Sweet mother of god!

This might be an obvious answer to you, but is a build like this with such low health viable in PVP or is this more geared towards PVE?

And another thing, why do you wield both the TCC and Logans Catalyst? Does the 1/2 castings actually take affect 'per-cast'? For instance, if you cast CSS with Logans it would take 1 cast, but if you were to switch to TCC it would take 2?

So the 1/2 castings doesnt take affect until you actually cast the spell.

I use Logan's for the level and TCC for the boss. I also use the Magic Bow with Moonlight Arrows (RTSR active) for insane damage through the level. This build is viable for PvP, no doubt. But, it is not an easy one to do for PvP.

And, don't forget the Avelyn. It does over 800 damage to invaders with the RTSR active.

This is currently what i'm rolling.

http://mmdks.com/3ucl

It's practically unstoppable in the burg and forest if you know how to utilize the spells instead of R1 mashing.


EDIT: I know you can change the class for less SLs but that's just the stats.

Hart wrote:

Undiscovery wrote:Seaths Tail, Moonlight GS is a nifty magic scaled weapon with special R2's.

Oh yes this is very true. Another good weapon is the Moonlight Butterfly Horn, which requires 12 STR to wield in one hand.
A nice little coincidence is that at 12 STR you can also two-hand the Moonlight Greatsword, making it a very tidy cap for the STR stat IMO.

On the topic of weapons; while what Raecor said about Chaos weapons is true, I found the Enchanted ascension to be very effective for damage early on. The smith and embers required for this type of ascension are also easy to get to early on in the game.
Enchanted damage was especially usefull when coupled with the regular dagger (you have the stats to wield this from the start, assuming you choose Sorcerer) and backstabs (probably the safest way for a frail character to deal melee damage; those invincibility frames on the BS animation saved my life more than a few times).

Something worth noting is that I ran my INT up to 50 almost immediately, only dropping points into ATT when I could afford to buy a new spell, so I had the scaling for that damage type at optimum levels pretty early on.

I was concentrating more on PVE, he has magic damage he needs an alternate type. also, if you have enough DEX you could try quellags fury sword

I have several characters and my mage build is one of the more fun ones. Bosses fall quickly if you can keep your distance between them or know how to kite around them. With all my +magic stuff I can take most bosses down with 3-4 CSS. Keeping the Fog Ring on and casting silence is a good option to easily move through NG's. I have an enchanted rapier for its +INT buff and 1.5 burden weight, for roll backstab purposes (to keep burden less than 25%). In pvp most people expect me to cast so it's quite funny when I roll BS them. Of course pursuers is a good option too, I've 1-shotted people before with a single cast. Or spamming soul spears sometimes works as well. 

Cheers

Hart wrote:

reim0027 wrote:Here's my Glass Canon build.  Get cursed too.  http://mugenmonkey.com/darksouls/?c=153206789898587719

Sweet mother of god!

This might be an obvious answer to you, but is a build like this with such low health viable in PVP or is this more geared towards PVE?

And another thing, why do you wield both the TCC and Logans Catalyst? Does the 1/2 castings actually take affect 'per-cast'? For instance, if you cast CSS with Logans it would take 1 cast, but if you were to switch to TCC it would take 2?

So the 1/2 castings doesnt take affect until you actually cast the spell.

It's not actually 1/2 castings. It's more appropriate to say it doubles spell usage.

And it is quite viable for pvp, as long as you make sure you're the one who hits. It pretty much becomes who strikes first.

This is my pure pyro build:
http://mugenmonkey.com/darksouls/?c=293796064302869686
I change the Chaos Fire Whip around a lot but this is how it is now, most of the time if its not Chaos Fire Whip its Poison Mist and Great Fireball.

This is my Paladin build:
http://mugenmonkey.com/darksouls/?c=307476099478478290
I sometimes change one of the Wraths and Sunlight Blade to Vow of Silence.

This is my magic counter/self buff build:
http://mugenmonkey.com/darksouls/?c=147477360652072786
I sometimes change the Power Within and Replenishment to Vow of Silence.

So this is the finished product opinions would be appreciated http://m.mugenmonkey.com/?c=285969055176864227

Change the rings and your good man, its really not worth to waist a ring slot for a single attunement slot. I would use a Wolf Ring and a Bellowing Dragoncrest Ring. It will give you more damage with magic and you won't get stunlocked by everything.