by strangejoy Thu Jan 19, 2012 11:41 amI had a sh 
t ton of fun last night killing high level forest hosts and their phantoms with my low level toon. My success rate was well under 50%, but it feels great to pull off a victory now and again. I thought it might be helpful to collect a few tips for dealing with forest hosts, sunbros, and the occassional darkwraith that helps the host. Please feel free to add tips. IMO, all bets are off when you're dealing with these clowns; you should feel free to pivot stab, chain bs, etc., when you see mr. havels pinwheel and goldilocks charging in your direction.
(1) Use power within! I'm amazed that I never see other forest covenenters using this buff. It's ideal for forest invasions. First off all, you're never going to have a fight with a camper and his phantoms that lasts longer than 100 seconds. Either you get in there and kill them in several hits, or it's over. Extra bonus: forest hosts are way too dumb to bleed you out. It has never once happened to me. I'm not even sure they recognize the obvious aura.
(2) Bring a hard hitting elemental weapon. This falls in the "duh" category, but it's worth mentioning. Claymores, bandit's knives, rapiers, and mail breakers are all contenders.
(3) If you're pimping a bandit's knife, rapier, or mail breaker, don't forget your hornet's ring. Even an SL300 is going to feel the pain when he's bs'd with a +5 lightning mailbreaker + hornet's ring + power within.
(4) Don't be a hero. There is no point in charging into combat if your opponents are positioned such that you can't get to the host without going through the sunbro and subjecting yourself to a 2v1 backstab fest. Pull back and wait for reinforcements. The hosts and their phantoms tend to refuse to engage you 1 on 1, and they also often refuse to move from their favored camping spots, so you'll have time to run on most occassions.
(5) Consider hanging out in Alvina's room and using fire tempest when the host and his sunbro come waltzing in. Make sure your back is to the wall, and pack your best poise gear if you're going to try to pull this off. Inner strength + dusk crown will maximize your success.
(6) When you're dealing with a darkwraith that is helping a host, it's a good idea to engage them together in close quarters (again, Alvina's room is a good spot). The host and DW will sometimes accidentally hit each other, which is great for lols and gives you and opening to kill.
(7) Kill the host, fool! The campers don't pay anything when you kill their sunbros. All they need to do is resummon, and there are apparently no shortage of sunbros willing to troll the forest. This goes double for darkwraiths. If you kill them first, the host will actually get souls and humanity as their reward for being a lameass bitch.
(8 ) Change your ring after you get the invasion message. Once the invasion message starts going, it's irreversible (unless there is a connection issue), so this is a great time to change your ring. Going into combat with Alvina's ring is a total waste.
(9) Wrath of God! There are good and bad uses of WoG. A bad use is charging into your opponents and attempting to spam the spell. Unless you have a very powerful WoG (I don't), this isn't going to kill your host or their golden boy. It also looks stupid and gives your host an excuse to call you cheap, even when they're double-teaming you (waaah, WoG spam). A good use is finishing off a host after a successful bs or combo. When the host's health is low, his trusty phantom will always try to prevent a chain bs and the host will always try to retreat. Using WoG at this moment forces the phantom to back off and punishes the host for their flasking shenanigans. Another good use is to hit the host and his phantom on the stairs behind Alvina's room. It's extremely hard to avoid WoG and the stairs, and using this spell often causes the host and his phantom to do something stupid that results in a free backstab (i.e., a drop attack from the stairs). If they run away instead of faicing WoG on the stairs, you can hold out for reinforcements.
(10) Use the mobs. While many campers clear out the mobs immediately outside of the bonfire and in the clearing before Alvina's room, few campers bother to kill the treants near the eastern set corpse (follow the wall next to the stairs until you get near the edge of the cliff). When you walk past those mobs, they'll wake up. Use them to your advantage. The mobs provide a temporary distraction for one of the 2 or 3 campers, giving you a 5 or so second window to pin down the host. Resist the temptation to focus too much on any distracted phantoms and beeline towards the host. If both the host and the phantom(s) engage the same mob, consider tossing a fireball into the mix to break up the party. Note: This only applies to instances where you're outnumbered (2v1 or 3v1). If you're in a 1v1 or 2v2 situation, don't waste time and demean yourself running around trying to attract mobs.
(11) If you happen to see me in the forest as a fellow blue (psn: eight_way_santa; I wear royal helmet, black iron chest, and hollow soldier legs), please don't interupt any 1v1 fights. I can't speak for other forest covenenters, but I enjoy the occassional 1v1 against the rare honorable host. Also, if I invade while you're fighting 1v1, don't expect any help unless your opponent is doing something obviously cheap.
t ton of fun last night killing high level forest hosts and their phantoms with my low level toon. My success rate was well under 50%, but it feels great to pull off a victory now and again. I thought it might be helpful to collect a few tips for dealing with forest hosts, sunbros, and the occassional darkwraith that helps the host. Please feel free to add tips. IMO, all bets are off when you're dealing with these clowns; you should feel free to pivot stab, chain bs, etc., when you see mr. havels pinwheel and goldilocks charging in your direction. (1) Use power within! I'm amazed that I never see other forest covenenters using this buff. It's ideal for forest invasions. First off all, you're never going to have a fight with a camper and his phantoms that lasts longer than 100 seconds. Either you get in there and kill them in several hits, or it's over. Extra bonus: forest hosts are way too dumb to bleed you out. It has never once happened to me. I'm not even sure they recognize the obvious aura.
(2) Bring a hard hitting elemental weapon. This falls in the "duh" category, but it's worth mentioning. Claymores, bandit's knives, rapiers, and mail breakers are all contenders.
(3) If you're pimping a bandit's knife, rapier, or mail breaker, don't forget your hornet's ring. Even an SL300 is going to feel the pain when he's bs'd with a +5 lightning mailbreaker + hornet's ring + power within.
(4) Don't be a hero. There is no point in charging into combat if your opponents are positioned such that you can't get to the host without going through the sunbro and subjecting yourself to a 2v1 backstab fest. Pull back and wait for reinforcements. The hosts and their phantoms tend to refuse to engage you 1 on 1, and they also often refuse to move from their favored camping spots, so you'll have time to run on most occassions.
(5) Consider hanging out in Alvina's room and using fire tempest when the host and his sunbro come waltzing in. Make sure your back is to the wall, and pack your best poise gear if you're going to try to pull this off. Inner strength + dusk crown will maximize your success.
(6) When you're dealing with a darkwraith that is helping a host, it's a good idea to engage them together in close quarters (again, Alvina's room is a good spot). The host and DW will sometimes accidentally hit each other, which is great for lols and gives you and opening to kill.
(7) Kill the host, fool! The campers don't pay anything when you kill their sunbros. All they need to do is resummon, and there are apparently no shortage of sunbros willing to troll the forest. This goes double for darkwraiths. If you kill them first, the host will actually get souls and humanity as their reward for being a lameass bitch.
(8 ) Change your ring after you get the invasion message. Once the invasion message starts going, it's irreversible (unless there is a connection issue), so this is a great time to change your ring. Going into combat with Alvina's ring is a total waste.
(9) Wrath of God! There are good and bad uses of WoG. A bad use is charging into your opponents and attempting to spam the spell. Unless you have a very powerful WoG (I don't), this isn't going to kill your host or their golden boy. It also looks stupid and gives your host an excuse to call you cheap, even when they're double-teaming you (waaah, WoG spam). A good use is finishing off a host after a successful bs or combo. When the host's health is low, his trusty phantom will always try to prevent a chain bs and the host will always try to retreat. Using WoG at this moment forces the phantom to back off and punishes the host for their flasking shenanigans. Another good use is to hit the host and his phantom on the stairs behind Alvina's room. It's extremely hard to avoid WoG and the stairs, and using this spell often causes the host and his phantom to do something stupid that results in a free backstab (i.e., a drop attack from the stairs). If they run away instead of faicing WoG on the stairs, you can hold out for reinforcements.
(10) Use the mobs. While many campers clear out the mobs immediately outside of the bonfire and in the clearing before Alvina's room, few campers bother to kill the treants near the eastern set corpse (follow the wall next to the stairs until you get near the edge of the cliff). When you walk past those mobs, they'll wake up. Use them to your advantage. The mobs provide a temporary distraction for one of the 2 or 3 campers, giving you a 5 or so second window to pin down the host. Resist the temptation to focus too much on any distracted phantoms and beeline towards the host. If both the host and the phantom(s) engage the same mob, consider tossing a fireball into the mix to break up the party. Note: This only applies to instances where you're outnumbered (2v1 or 3v1). If you're in a 1v1 or 2v2 situation, don't waste time and demean yourself running around trying to attract mobs.
(11) If you happen to see me in the forest as a fellow blue (psn: eight_way_santa; I wear royal helmet, black iron chest, and hollow soldier legs), please don't interupt any 1v1 fights. I can't speak for other forest covenenters, but I enjoy the occassional 1v1 against the rare honorable host. Also, if I invade while you're fighting 1v1, don't expect any help unless your opponent is doing something obviously cheap.
Last edited by strangejoy on Tue Jan 24, 2012 4:12 pm; edited 4 times in total
I'm quick to get backstabs and Im faster than you. haha. Nobody has ever outrun me hehehehe. I'll be there later tonight after some Darkwraith invasions to get 99 humanity. Hope to see you there >: ) if you try and recognize me, I wear darkmask and armor of thorns with 2h flamberge that doesn't team you with my host. ^^ but if you run or hide I will hunt you down. o.o
Rock on, forest brothers!
and Jolly-Coop! 
PTS! 
