Please help me :)))) I'm a little bit of a nooooob ;))

Don't upgrade armor yet, weapons are more important. If you explore the bottom of Blighttown, you'll find a group of leeches. Killing them, especially if you are holding humanity in your humanity gauge, will get you Large titanite. If you plan on using the Balder Side Sword, don't upgrade Str, upgrade Dex. Once your weapon is +10, you should be ready for the next few areas. A good shield to upgrade is the Kite Shield sold by Andre, or the Heater Shield sold by the Undead Merchant. Since mobility (being able to fast roll) is better than armor in general, you might want to put on some light armor to get your equip weight below 25%.

The Grass Crest Shield is a good choice also, as it has decent defenses, and buffs your stamina regeneration rates. You find that in the Darkroot Basin, down near the area where the big hydra is. The Balder Shield is also a good choice, which is a drop from the same enemies you got your sword from. Both Shields Ghadis recommended are good also. It all depends on what you want out of a shield. The Heater and Grass Crest are both good for staying light and mobile, while offering a bit less protection, while the Kite and Balder are heavier, but offer better protection and stability.

As far as armor goes, it depends on what you're trying to do with your character. Do you want to be heavy and slow with good protection, meaning you'd be able to take harder hits but have a harder time dodging? Or do you want to remain light and mobile? Which would mean lighter and faster, easier to dodge, but you wouldn't be able to take hits as well. Each is a viable method. It just depends on how you play the game.

Ghadis_God wrote:Don't upgrade armor yet, weapons are more important. If you explore the bottom of Blighttown, you'll find a group of leeches. Killing them, especially if you are holding humanity in your humanity gauge, will get you Large titanite. If you plan on using the Balder Side Sword, don't upgrade Str, upgrade Dex. Once your weapon is +10, you should be ready for the next few areas. A good shield to upgrade is the Kite Shield sold by Andre, or the Heater Shield sold by the Undead Merchant. Since mobility (being able to fast roll) is better than armor in general, you might want to put on some light armor to get your equip weight below 25%.

That's debatable, especially for a 1st playthrough (when you don't know how to mdodge the enemy attacks yet). Most people underestimate defense in pve, but trust me, upgrading your armour to +6 (or even +9 if you can spare the titanite chunks) means you'll take negigible damage. Also, the balder side sword might not be the best weapon since you've already invested in 27 str. With your stats, a normal longsword will outdamage the balder side sword, although the latter has an (arguably) better moveset.

Shakie666 wrote:

Ghadis_God wrote:Don't upgrade armor yet, weapons are more important. If you explore the bottom of Blighttown, you'll find a group of leeches. Killing them, especially if you are holding humanity in your humanity gauge, will get you Large titanite. If you plan on using the Balder Side Sword, don't upgrade Str, upgrade Dex. Once your weapon is +10, you should be ready for the next few areas. A good shield to upgrade is the Kite Shield sold by Andre, or the Heater Shield sold by the Undead Merchant. Since mobility (being able to fast roll) is better than armor in general, you might want to put on some light armor to get your equip weight below 25%.

That's debatable, especially for a 1st playthrough (when you don't know how to mdodge the enemy attacks yet). Most people underestimate defense in pve, but trust me, upgrading your armour to +6 (or even +9 if you can spare the titanite chunks) means you'll take negigible damage. Also, the balder side sword might not be the best weapon since you've already invested in 27 str. With your stats, a normal longsword will outdamage the balder side sword, although the latter has an (arguably) better moveset.

I was the one who recommended the BSS the other day. I did it simply because he said he was comfortable with the Drake Sword. Didn't consider scaling. With those stats the Murakumo would be a good choice. Especially if you were planning on raising DEX.

Or maybe one of the pole arms.

Shakie666 wrote:

Ghadis_God wrote:Don't upgrade armor yet, weapons are more important. If you explore the bottom of Blighttown, you'll find a group of leeches. Killing them, especially if you are holding humanity in your humanity gauge, will get you Large titanite. If you plan on using the Balder Side Sword, don't upgrade Str, upgrade Dex. Once your weapon is +10, you should be ready for the next few areas. A good shield to upgrade is the Kite Shield sold by Andre, or the Heater Shield sold by the Undead Merchant. Since mobility (being able to fast roll) is better than armor in general, you might want to put on some light armor to get your equip weight below 25%.

That's debatable, especially for a 1st playthrough (when you don't know how to mdodge the enemy attacks yet). Most people underestimate defense in pve, but trust me, upgrading your armour to +6 (or even +9 if you can spare the titanite chunks) means you'll take negigible damage. Also, the balder side sword might not be the best weapon since you've already invested in 27 str. With your stats, a normal longsword will outdamage the balder side sword, although the latter has an (arguably) better moveset.

Most of the attacks in the game are fairly intuitive to dodge with fast roll. I'm not underestimating Defense, but the first set of armor that good from the start you don't find until Anor londo, and it takes a massive amount of work to upgrade four pieces of armor to +6 in the early game. Much more work than throwing on a light set and getting used to a fast dodge.

Picked up some useful info in this thread myself!

Hi guys ! me again

So I just got through Anor Londo. I had a huge struggle with killing the Dragon Slayer and Executioner... I kind of got stuck on that, so I didn't get much further through the last 2 weeks. Today I had the idea to summon a phantom and with a little help of a random guy.. we did it ! )

So i talked to the Princess and i got the Lordvessel and I jus talked to the "funny snake" in Firelink Shrine and I placed the vessel in Firelink Altar. My question is what should I do next ?
Is is the Catacombs or the Painted World od Aramis ? I know that you need to get a doll or something from the Undead Assylum. Oh and also I've never been to The Great Hollow nor Ash Lake.

My stats atm:

LEV 63
VIT 24
ATT 8
END 24
STR 27
DEX 26
RES 18
INT 9
FTH 9

As my primairy weapon I'm using still the Balder Side Sword. Could you please give me some hints on what shall I do next ?

Thanks a lot !

The catacombs is a good place to go next, to get the rite of kindling. (allows you to kindle bonfires further so you can have a max of 20 extus flasks) As you've prolly noticed the skeletons there revive when killed, but you can kill them for good using a divine weapon! (until you rest at a bonfire that is) Don't turn your main weapon divine though, use a different one, since you're not a faith build. The easiest way is to use Astora's straightsword, but creating a divine weapon yourself is often more powerful.

After the catacombs comes an area which is pitch black, lemme just point out right away that you can use the lantern dropped by one of the necromancers to light it up. But you don't need to go there yet, personally i find it quite an annoying area.

You can go into the painted world of Ariamis too, there's some pretty useful loot there. But make sure you're well prepared cuz once you go in, you can't easily get out again. Did you find the peculiar doll yet? It's in the undead asylum, guarded by a black knight (i think) it's not so hard to find.
Two tips for the painted world: You don't NEED to defeat the boss there. In fact i think killing her counts as a sin so it's prolly better not to fight her if you don't want Darkmoons on yo *ss.
Secondly, if you don't have any AOE spells (which you prolly don't), make sure you take some firebombs with you. Trust me.

Edit: Btw, i'd advice you to get a little more endurance, since having high stamina is very useful. Only do that if you feel like it's useful though, don't blindly follow me
Note that increasing endurance above level 40 doesn't increase stamina anymore, making is a lot less useful.

If you were lucky enough to get the silver knight spear from anor londo, use that in the catacombs. It has the same divine effect as astora's straight sword but you don't have to level up your faith to 14. If you go to the catacombs, after killing the boss, i would suggest you to homeward bone back to nearest bonfire, and then warp to firelink shrine (or wherever you want to go).

Painted world of Ariamis is full of interesting items and some spells too. Most of them are well hidden though, so you might want to spend some time there. Take some Blooming Purple Moss in there with you.

My suggestion: Catacombs, undead asylum, the great hollow/ash lake, Painted world.

Just to let you know. I got through the Catacombs, The Great Hollow/Ash Lake, went back to undead asylum in order to get the doll and right now I'm in the Painted World of Aramis. Thanks a lot for all the advice ! The Silver Knight Spear was incredibly good in the Catacombs and I'm still using it sometimes.

I've got a short question. I was thinking of using Soul of Quelaag in order to get either the Chaos Blade or Quelaag's Furysword. Which one is better or which one would you recommend ?

Oh and btw. After getting through Painted World of Aramis, from which Lord Soul shall I start first ? Is there any particular order ?

Thanks for the help !

If you're stoking bonfires this playthrough I'd do Nito first. The Tomb of Giants opens up a massive amount of hard and soft humanity. Over thirty, if I remember. Reah alone is worth 19 (assuming you have the Dark Hand).

Do you have the DLC bizkit?

The Chaos Blade and Fury Sword are both decent choices. If this is your first playthrough I'd probably recommend the Fury Sword over the Chaos Blade though. The CB is one of the better katanas, but it takes away bits of your own health every time you land a hit with it, and if you're not a super confident player, that might not be the best thing.

I'd advice the furysword, as Plastic said, the chaos blade takes away bits of your own health. Keep in mind that it scales mostly with dexterity, barely with strength so if you plan on using it long term it's a good idea to invest in dex rather than str.

Nito is probably a good choice, since he's pretty close once you've completed the catacombs. Make sure to take the skull lantern and silver knight spear with you into the tomb of the giants.
It's also a good choice to go to lower new londo, not necessarily to defeat the boss but to get the very large ember. It's very useful for a physical class like yours.

Thanks for the advice. I think I'm going to choose the Furysword then

Do I need to be cursed to get through New Londo Ruins or is there any other way to kill those ghosts ? I've never explored any of those areas, which means that I don't have the Dark Hand yet.

Is there a shortcut into the Tomb of Giants or do I need to get through all of Catacombs again as it doesn't show up in the Warp list ?

here is a build iv been working on, it SEAMS to fit your weapon choices well, a little bit of everything http://mmdks.com/hhm

Ghosts can only be harmed when you're cursed. You don't need to get yourself killed by basilisks for that though, just use a transient curse, it will curse you for 5 minutes and then wear off. (make sure you use a new one when it works out, when you're not cursed you can't block their attacks either) You prolly have like 2-3 transient curses in your inventory and the ghosts themselves drop them so you won't quickly run out.

Ghosts aren't very powerful, but be careful as they can move through wall, and will sometimes be hiding INSIDE of walls to ambush you. It's a good idea to take a couple firebombs with you for ghosts that are in a tough spot. Firebombs kill them in 2 hits. Once you've drained the water and go down (lil bit of a spoiler but oh well) there won't be any ghosts down there, so you don't need to be cursed anymore. Just explore the area, get the loot, especially the ember, but don't go into the boss fog yet. (i assume you haven't defeated the giant wolf yet?)

About the tomb of the giants, yes you need to go through the catacombs again. But if you've managed to kill all the necromancers (i think there are 6) the skeletons won't revive, so you won't need a divine weapon anymore. (take it with you though, you need it in the fight against Nito)

Plastic you asked if I had the DLC. I was wondering if I should get it. Is it any good ? I just googled it and it says that the only way to access the DLC is through Darkroot Basin. Is it possible to play the DLC after you finished the game or do you need to start NG+ ? I wanted to do a short Dark Souls brake after finishing the main story, so I could play the DLC in 2 or 3 months or so

You can do it whenever. You just have to have access to both the Duke's Archives and the Darkroot Basin. I think it's worth it. There's a few new bosses, a couple of which I think are a great deal of fun. A few new areas to explore. A whole slew of new equipment and spells. Some new NPC's, and last but not least, a PvP arena, which I've been getting a lot of use out of. The reason I asked, is because people were recommending places to farm humanity, and if you had access to the DLC areas, there's a place there you can do it, that I feel is an easier place.