A Newbies Tale

Indeed, a cast of flame whip with a fully upgraded pyro glove can do about half of pinwheel's health.

I think that I was around sl 60 or so when i did the place after the catacombs, I am sl70 now and I have yet to do the Archives or the Lost Izalith.

I would recommend upgrading your favorite weapons along the desired path as much as you can. The weapon makes a huge difference, I think that by then I was using a divine morningstar +10

Edit: If you ever need help later on closer to sl70 let me know

Well it was my curry, beer and DS night last night and I think it was a productive session.
As explained earlier I was facing the pinwheel in the catacombs - armed with my pyromancy orb +15 he was toast....litterally, and then onto the tomb of the giants ----MMMmmmmm
Armed with my skull lantern and divine stick (club +5) they made mincemeat out of me !!! ---RETHINK needed......... off I went to farm souls in the forest, bought twinkling from the giant blacksmith and upped my armour and ghost blade, also made a few choice weapons divine for my next trip to the catacombs / tomb of the giants but for now my destination of choice is the New Londo Ruins.
The ambush point is a killer but get past that and it relitively plain sailing. opened the gates and drained the water -- WOW -- clever idea the game designers had -- a whole new world opened up, yes the darkwraiths and abit handy but nothing a bit of patience and good weapon cannot handle.
Saw the Valley of the Drakes but didn't take on the enemy, killed the slime thing and through the fog gate down into the abyss --- and there my friends my story ends........
couldn't go back so took a leap into the darkness and DIED....... guess, like a message said..."need a ring"...... it was 12.30am, work tomorrow....bedtime.....

Congratulations for the progress!

I'm off to bed in a few minutes, so I'll try to be concise.

First of all, once all necromancers are dead, you are free to go into the catacombs and the Tomb of the Giants with whatever you want. The skeletons won't respawn.
New Londo can be a bastard if you don't manage to open the floodgate. Those slimes don't respawn so don't feel bad if you die but take one of those with you!
And yes, you need a certain ring to jump into the Abyss.
Want a quick and cryptic tip? In the Forest of the Darkest Roots lays your answer.

Lee did you fight Sif yet, because if not you're going to want to fight Sif. Just a heads up, the Skeletons in the Tomb of the giants do not require a divine weapon. They'll do more damage to them, but those giant skeletons will not respawn after being killed if you use a normal weapon. So when you are in the Tomb, you can switch to whatever weapon you want.

here's the latest --- I went ot fight Sif the Wolf and after upping my level to 52 (I wanted to use my +5 Silver Knight Sword) I beat him and got the ring of Artorias, but i didn't proceed directly to the Abyss. Instead I had never visited the Great Hollow or Ash Lake so I thought I'd go and see whats down there.
I believe I've explored and picked up everything from both locations, seems abit of a dead-end, ending with the stone dragon. At this point I farmed some twinkling titanite and upped some weapons and armour (thought it wise) and warped back to the guy in the bell tower, left the covenent of the White, warped back to the stone dragon and joined the covenent of the dragon. Dont know why, dont know what are the benefits, if any, so this morning my next job is to read the wiki on covenents - I did offer the dragon a dragon scale which deepened my "faith" - again, no idea what this means, so I saved my position for another day.
Maybe by tonight I'll have a clue what i'm doing with covenents - upto now I have come across the "Way of the White", "Princess' Guard" and "Path of the Dragon" ?????????

Basically, covenants have a focus, be it Player vs Player (Darkwraith, Path of the Dragon, Gravelords, Forest Hunters, Darkmoon Blade), Cooperative Player (Way of the White, Warriors of Sunlight, Princess' Guard), or just farming (Servant of Chaos.)

The Path of the Dragon rewards you with some equipment that turns you into some kind of half-dragon, and you use scales to level up on it. You can also leave a marker (that appears as a big, grey eye) to challenge other people, who possess dragon scales. If you win, you get more dragon scales.
A glorified red sign soapstone, basically.

Way of the White and Princess' Guards have no ranks whatsoever; the former just bunches people of the same faction together in the servers as far as I know.

Just to make sure you understand weapon upgrades, a couple posts back it seemed like you may not have. You can only do certain ascensions with particular smiths after you've given them the required embers. Exactly which path you want depends on your stats and planned leveling. If you're primarily raising Str or Dex you need to go normal path, this path improves stat scaling, which is done through Andrei with the large and very large embers. Other paths will add Int or Fth scaling so you may wanna go those routes if you are raising those stats and Raw just sucks (pretend it doesn't exist).

The primary use of the Giant Blacksmith is to have him make unique weapons using boss souls, e.g. Quelaag's Furysword and Chaos Blade.

Question I read through the whole thread, good read BTW, but didnt see you mention killing the Moonlight Butterfly. Past him is another Ember you're gonna want. Plus the fight is easy with a good ranged attack but extremely enjoyable. The atmosphere was expertly crafted.

Also get the Very Large Ember from the lower part of the Londo ruins, will allow normal weapons to go to +15.

Lastly now that you have Sif's ring a tip. The bosses of New Londo are the Four Kings. The fight can be difficult but don't get scared. Without totally giving everything away ill say, attack quickly and as hard as you can with little regard to your safety.

Thanks Azran & Fed.. yes I have killed the moonlight butterfly.
I was apprehensive on entering the Abyss without fully exploring the Hollow and Lake, just thought that there maybe was something useful down there. Twinkling farming was handy, and the miracle was found but I'm not a faith build, so generally its useless.
I've read the Wiki on covenents and basically the "path of the dragon" will be of help for my drake sword but only if I can compete online against others, may give it a try later but I'm not one for waiting around for someone to answer my 'call'.
I've decided to have a go at killing the drakes first, then onto the Abyss or the Tomb of the Giants..... choices, choices......

The Catacombs and Tomb of the Giants are known for tougher enemies, but a weaker boss. New Londo is sort of the opposite, weaker although annoying enemies, and a very tough boss. So that's really all I can say on which one to take.

Just to comment on my build --- Strength and Dex are almost the same at 24'ish, Intelligence is about 18 --- need 36!!!! for the soul spear (seems excessive to me).
Lately I have been raising my endurance and vitality which served my well with the latest fights with the Ash Lake Hydra (which was easy) and Sif (took a number of attempts but with the increases made finally won).
I'm just concerned regarding been too high of a level in area's were I may need help so I dont level up all the time, just when I think I need that little bit extra.

undead lee wrote:Thanks Azran & Fed.. yes I have killed the moonlight butterfly.
I was apprehensive on entering the Abyss without fully exploring the Hollow and Lake, just thought that there maybe was something useful down there. Twinkling farming was handy, and the miracle was found but I'm not a faith build, so generally its useless.
I've read the Wiki on covenents and basically the "path of the dragon" will be of help for my drake sword but only if I can compete online against others, may give it a try later but I'm not one for waiting around for someone to answer my 'call'.
I've decided to have a go at killing the drakes first, then onto the Abyss or the Tomb of the Giants..... choices, choices......

So you know the Abyss is not a zone, it is just the boss arena. The only thing to do there is either kill the boss or be killed by the boss. As soon as you arrive the first one spawns and its game on. Since you've gotten that far in New Londo I would suggest you finish it before starting a new zone.

Please dump the Drake sword, it sucks. It has high base damage but no stat scaling. So its good when you get it but doesn't grow with you like other weapons. Stop raising Str and Dex and just raise one or the other. Then find a weapon you like with stat scaling for the stat you choose and improve it. Any weapon on the normal upgrade path will outperform even a fully upgraded Drake sword.

Oh and next I personally suggest Demon's Ruins as your next destination once you defeat Four Kings in the Abyss.

I would suggest you choose an offensive stat that you focus on over the others, not saying you should exclusively level it, just favor it. Also, here's a link to a summoning guide, I warn you it mentions the titles of bosses, so if you want to avoid that spoiler do not go there. The main reason I am putting it up is because it provides the best level ranges for coop for all areas (by boss). Thought it may help you decide what level you should be for each area .

http://darksoulswiki.wikispaces.com/Guide+to+Co-operative+Play

berkut wrote:I would suggest you choose an offensive stat that you focus on over the others, not saying you should exclusively level it, just favor it. Also, here's a link to a summoning guide, I warn you it mentions the titles of bosses, so if you want to avoid that spoiler do not go there. The main reason I am putting it up is because it provides the best level ranges for coop for all areas (by boss). Thought it may help you decide what level you should be for each area .

http://darksoulswiki.wikispaces.com/Guide+to+Co-operative+Play

I found that guide to be wildly innacurate with level ranges. I'm not sure how they figured it for the later bosses but I think its too hard to predict what level they'll be at anything past O&S.

MMMmmmmmm ----- I've attempted the Tomb of the Giants and even with the cast light spell so I can equip a shield its damn hard.... after 3-4 Skellies I'm dead meat.
The Drakes are also frying me !!!
Think I'll go to the Abyss tonight and give that a crack......
Berkut ---- you mention an "offensive stat"...... what exactly do you mean by that??
At an SL52 I may farm souls in the forest and raise my level to 60 for what lays ahead as everwhere I go I seem to be getting pummelled.

By "offensive stat", he meant any stat that gives a parameter bonus to your weapon. So, basically, he's suggesting you to go all Strength, or all Dexterity for a while, till you hit the 30s-40. That way, you'll get the maximum amount of damage out of your weapon. Also; as I think someone said above, the Drake Sword receives NO PARAMETER BONUS from Dex or Strength.

Indeed, as Azran said, I am suggesting you work on improving a stat that ups your damage via scaling with a weapon. From now on, most damage will come from you either upgrading your weapon via blacksmiths or uping your stats that scale really well with your weapon. Note that not all weapons scale well with a stat and upgrading weapons down different upgrade paths changes their scaling. You are reaching that point where you need to decide what weapon type/upgrade path you prefer and stick with that.

Personally I use two weapons, a divine morningstar +10 and a chaos claymore +2. I am primarily going to be a faith build, hence the divine part of my morningstar. At sl70, with my stats, I am doing probably 300-400 damage per swing (I may be totally off on that, as I haven't played in a while).

I am sure that is much more than almost any weapon that isn't upgraded, hence the importance of now upgrading your weapons.

berkut wrote:Indeed, as Azran said, I am suggesting you work on improving a stat that ups your damage via scaling with a weapon. From now on, most damage will come from you either upgrading your weapon via blacksmiths or uping your stats that scale really well with your weapon. Note that not all weapons scale well with a stat and upgrading weapons down different upgrade paths changes their scaling. You are reaching that point where you need to decide what weapon type/upgrade path you prefer and stick with that.

Personally I use two weapons, a divine morningstar +10 and a chaos claymore +2. I am primarily going to be a faith build, hence the divine part of my morningstar. At sl70, with my stats, I am doing probably 300-400 damage per swing (I may be totally off on that, as I haven't played in a while).

I am sure that is much more than almost any weapon that isn't upgraded, hence the importance of now upgrading your weapons.

I think you're the 6th person (me included) to make this suggestion lol

Cheers Guys...... I'll give it a go.
Didn't have much time last night but did manage to take a look at the boss in the Abyss. I also farmed 50,000 souls in the forest and visited three blacksmiths (Andre, Giant and Skeleton), just to see what they offered in terms of upgrading -- bit rubbish to be honest -- as I need twinkling and chunks.
So based on all your advice I will be farming for a while --- I have found the forest best for farming souls, Ash Lake (with a ring) for twinkling, Although I know I can buy this. I'll check the wiki for best place for chunks (if any).
Muchios Gracias....

De nada.

Twinkling titanite in the Ash Lake becomes boooring since there are only 3 clams. There is a much better place to farm Twinkling titanite, but it will only unlock once you defeat a certain boss. Without spoiling: once you see clams again, and defeat a boss near them, there will be a bonfire. Use it and farm. Don't leave if you intend to farm them since the path back there is looooong.

The Giant Blacksmith also sells Twinkling 8000 souls a piece. You can also use the Silver Serpent Ring and go towards the first Anor Londo bonfire; each of the six Giants there is worth 1500 souls (1800 with ring); they are near the bonfire and not too tough since you can pull them one by one. If that isn't enough, you can go to the Chamber of the Princess and drop down, go defeat both Sentinels for 3000 souls each and the Silver Knight up the stairs for 1200 more. You can go towards the giant, kill a pair of winged demons, and you will have enough for a twinkling titanite piece.

If you want plain titanite chunks, you can't go wrong with the Darkwraiths in the lower New Londo. Put on a ring of avarice, get some humanity, and farm them. You have a chance to get some slabs too! Be careful though; they are a tough bunch.

Ahhh Nice one Azran....... Only issue is the souls gathering option...... great if your super hard and the giants are easy fodder but all too often those BFG's kill me easily.
Question ---- "Put on a ring of avarice, get some humanity, and farm them" -- I'll have to check my ring options - WHY DO I NEED TO GET SOME HUMANITY???? --- is it a ring thing?
Whilst upping my offensive stats (strength) I was watching my weapon scaling, switching weapons and seeing what effect it had --- I think I get it now..... but after reaching a strength of 28 all weapon scaling stopped at around 370 - can this be increased with different weapons or embers -- I'm still having an issue with up scaling weapons or should I say having the opertunity of up scaling weapons at the various blacksmiths.
The Darkwaiths in New Londo are definately an option though - cheers...
At the moment I bucked all advice (sorry guys) and went to the Dukes Archives - loved it... now I'm battling through the Crystal Cave but I must admit its damned hard down here, slowly making progress but the narow paths are a killer when a crystal golum in on your heels.
I only hope that a warp oppertunity exists as I darn't leave, just in case....... its a long way down here from Anor Londo.

To understand scaling just look at your weapon's info screen. Where it shows the attack values there will be a number on the left, the base AR, and a number on the right with a + sign, that is how much your stats increase the weapons damage through scaling. Add those two up to get the total AR for your weapon.

Then if you look lower on the screen you'll see the ParamBonus part, this has symbols that represent stats, Str Dex Int Fth from left to right, and letter grades next to those symbols, the grades go E D C B A S while a - means none. E and D give little scaling, C is average, B and A are good while S is the best. Choose a weapon that scales well with the stat or stats you want to increase then upgrade it to improve your weapons base AR and its scaling.

Well, having soft Humanity on you (that is, humanity in your counter in the top of the screen) increases your item discovery rate. The more humanity you have, the more chances you've got of stuff dropping. I think it caps at 10. And with the ring, you will have the max amount of item discovery possible.

The Crystal Cave? Nice! The closest bonfire from where you can warp to if you want to go back again into the Duke's Archives is the one in Anor Londo, though.

.............. Getting abit fustrated with DS at the moment............
I've just spent time reviewing the weapons section in the Wiki because I'm struggling with inflicting enough damage, it maybe that i'm too immobile??
I run around with a +5 Raw Helbert, +5 Silver Knight sword, Pyromancy glove +15, Tin Darkmoon cataylst, +9 Silver Knight armour.
I've just found out (Dohh...) that my sword is maxed out but I have, (now this may seem obvious) a +5 Raw Helbert - Does this have to be modified back to a basic Helbert to then be reinforced to a crystal or lightening Helbert??
I have embers which I've given to the various blacksmiths but no real oppertunity to then upgrade my weapons -- I feel ripped off......
Azran.... you've put me on a down'er. I left the Crystal Cave / Dukes Archives because I wasn't getting anywhere so I've gone on a hunt for something / anything that will help either protect me more or give me an awesome attack because in the Crystal cave I was relaying on long range attacks which after the 400th arrow becomes boring. I like a good fight..

Your mistake was taking your weapon down the Raw upgrade path. Raw eliminates all scaling while increasing base AR, in other words Raw sucks. You need to forget the option exists at all. Either go revert your Halbred to normal and increase it down the normal path as far as you can, or find a different weapon and increase it down the normal path. Normal increases AR slightly and improves the weapons scaling, which makes a huge difference.

Thanks Fed,
The clams in the crystal cave have just made that option for me,, over the last two nights both my raw and crystal helberts have been broken .. gutted.. so i'll start again with a new weapon.
My silver knight sword was looking promising until I maxed out at +5!!
Looks like I have a bit of work to do.
Anyway whilst down in the cave I had a short spell with 'sif' the scalless -- mmmmm looks a toughy.