Dark Magic Explanation? (DLC/PtD) I am confused.

Hello all, it has been a long time.
I have recently picked up Dark Souls again, and it's new DLC. I seem to be understanding all the changes and new weapons fine. However, this new "Dark Magic" confuses me in PVP.

Everything I can find on it says "deals Physical damage" and yet when I block with a 100% physical Shield I still take a decent amount of damage. Any one have an explanation/thouights?

Thank you.

It actually deals magic damage. Don't know why it says physical.

...but don't think your trusty Crest shield will save you.

I think it calculates damage based on your physical defense stat rather than your Magic defense. That's just my speculation though, I'm not sure.

wow! Our forums students still don't know about this? Now thats interesting! Time to test things to found out how to counter the new dark magic. I don't believe the silver pedant is the only option :|

I'm betting that Havel's Greatshield would eat Pursuers/Dark Bead and leave its wielder with hardly a scratch. I'm proposing that as the countermeasure for Dark Magic.

BrotherBob wrote:I'm betting that Havel's Greatshield would eat Pursuers/Dark Bead and leave its wielder with hardly a scratch. I'm proposing that as the countermeasure for Dark Magic.

Ah that reminds me. someone already posted that Great Magic Barrier is also a good counter

I know but, some people don't have the faith.

BrotherBob wrote:I know but, some people don't have the faith.

A lot of people don't have the str and equip load tolerance to lug around one of the heaviest shields in the game, either.

I think crest is probably ok vs beads if you have it maxed and have good end, but pursuers is another matter. I'm not sure I'd just walk into that with my shield out even when I do go max my crest shield and start using it.

its magic damage, use Great Magic Barrier and watch it make you immune

Your right. I only brought up the idea of Havel's Greatshield because I personally love my strength/int build.

I'm convined they just do typical magic damage, except that they also cause more poise/stamina damage. I don't think it's calculated with physical resist.

That would make sense since GMB is so awesome at protecting against Dark Magic.

Glutebrah wrote:its magic damage, use Great Magic Barrier and watch it make you immune

wanna test this tonight G? i have a faith build and my str build that can use gmb and havel's shield. i rreally wanna know which one could potentially be better.

Vow of Silence is the best I've found, aside from just dodging it. Practice makes perfect, they're not so bad anymore for me though Pursuers is kind of hit and miss. Actually, lag doesn't affect them that much; you can dodge through them with fast roll if you wait until right before they hit you.

BrotherBob wrote:Your right. I only brought up the idea of Havel's Greatshield because I personally love my strength/int build.

Well of course. If you're going str anyway you'd be hard pressed to find a better shield. Although you can't parry with it a lot of the nonsense people do with spells can just be ignored entirely with shields like that.

You'd kill my character like nothing right now since I am low level and have pyromancy and only pyromancy until I get enough dex added for PGS/good bow. I don't even go for parries or bs right now...and not because of some honor thing (or even because of skill). It's just because my weapons are so bad that a backstab coming from, say, a lightning spear or a not-fully-upgraded divine sword barely hurts more than just hitting someone with a combustion.

But I wanted to do PvP anyway without even beating some areas, so pyro glove was the way to go! Those shields though...man can the heavy shields be threatening. As long as you avoid the backstabs/parries you can forget about most other threats.

Carphil wrote:

BrotherBob wrote:I'm betting that Havel's Greatshield would eat Pursuers/Dark Bead and leave its wielder with hardly a scratch. I'm proposing that as the countermeasure for Dark Magic.

Ah that reminds me. someone already posted that Great Magic Barrier is also a good counter

If that's true, then we can discard the theory about it's damage being calculated based on Physical defense.

with gmb on my character i took a full volley of pursuers (all five) and a crystal soul spear and only lost a third of my hp, i have around 1100 hp on that file as he's lvl 72 right now and i level up vit last, and the mage was wearing the dusk crown and the booster ring... so yeah and this guy isn't wearing much beyond 2 pieces of giants and chesters hat

I did some research on dark sorcery if you wanna know more. The dark sorceries deal magic damage.

https://soulswiki.forumotion.com/t13851-some-research-about-dark-sorceries-and-manus-catalyst

Thank you every one, this has been extremely helpful!

Silver pendant is so lol. Sure you can block dark magic, but while your toon take that coffee break for using the pendant you'll get struck by either lethal melee attacks or "just" a heavy hitting CSA