A Newbies Tale

Tolvo wrote:
As for Capra, it might do good to find yourself a summon, or use force if you have the faith. You can actually Force the dogs away at first then run for the stairs. Do not try to block Capra's jump attack, it will just slam you into the ground. You just need to kill those dogs, as soon as they're dead you'll notice the fight is pretty easy.

I think they may have made Capra easier with the patch, because I did not have a problem blocking Capra's jump attack. I used tower kite shield +5 and had 16 endurance. The jump attack is hard to dodge unless you have room behind you to move back.

The trick is actually dodging while he is in the air, kind of like the titanite Demons. I can't really say Pre-Post patch, I only started playing Post sadly.

My Game is about 2-3 weeks old - bought from new and it is the limited edition version - i assume the only difference is the art book and the packaging.
Can i assume the patch(es) will have already been included or added whilst online in the background ?

If you are playing while signed in, you are patched most likely. I'm pretty sure it wouldn't let you play while signed in otherwise.

undead lee wrote:Drake sword looks cool but cannot add the pine resin to it and haven't tried to reinforce it yet but i wouldn't be suprised if that can't be done either.

Just to clear this up in case you are still in doubt or it benefits any other newbies, you can't buff certain weapons, such as the dragon weapons and black knight items with resins etc. You can upgrade the drake sword, but it takes dragon scales rather than titanite due to it being draconic in origin. As others have said, I would not suggest upgrading it as a properly upgraded weapon of a 'normal' type will beat it hands down later on. It's a great starter weapon though.

When did you get back Zechk? Nice to see your around again

One thing as a relative new player to this amazing game, I noticed earlier when a poster was talking about humanity, he said you can help out others if you are human. I'm fairly sure you can drop the whitesign soapstone even when hollow, right? I have been doing and I've been getting summoned to help others in Jolly Co-operation. This isnt just my imagination is it? I do spend most of my time as alive as I can, so forgive me if I'm talking nonsense.

Also another newbie question. I was summoned into a world the other day and became an invader, how did this happen?

Also, a hint for the OP, dont ever feel bad or get angry for dying in this game. My character hasnt dies outside of invasion now for 20-30 hours of play, but that doesnt mean I didnt die plenty at first lol.

Dark75Messiah wrote:One thing as a relative new player to this amazing game, I noticed earlier when a poster was talking about humanity, he said you can help out others if you are human. I'm fairly sure you can drop the whitesign soapstone even when hollow, right? I have been doing and I've been getting summoned to help others in Jolly Co-operation. This isnt just my imagination is it? I do spend most of my time as alive as I can, so forgive me if I'm talking nonsense.

Also another newbie question. I was summoned into a world the other day and became an invader, how did this happen?

Also, a hint for the OP, dont ever feel bad or get angry for dying in this game. My character hasnt dies outside of invasion now for 20-30 hours of play, but that doesnt mean I didnt die plenty at first lol.

Nope, it's not your imagination. You only need to be human to summon a jolly friend, or to invade someone via DMB/DW/Red Orbs.

The invading when summoned thing is a bug I believe. There was another topic around here in which people would try to invade, and end up spawning as a white phantom in their world. Sounds like what you are experiencing is the opposite of that, unless you had a covenant ring on.

On the Invading thing...... I've spent most, if not all, of the game as a hollow. Not by choice, its just that Humanity seems to be like rocking horse **it. Anyway whilst playing last night i was noticing a "summoning" glow around me when near bonfires. I think, from reading posts on here, this is an indication that someone was invading my world although i didn't come across anyone. Do they "drop in" near my position or is it in the position in which they where when initiating an invade?
Anyway, i didn't see anyone.
The Capra Demon is STILL kicking my *** so i ventured into the garden. That Demon gaurding the entrance was easy the knights in the garden were also easy (my trusted soul [standard, great and greater] arrow's to the rescue) got my reward, and so now i look cool, and not like i've been dragged off the streets. well up i went into a magical looking area to be greeted by a wonderous butterfly, i watched her lift up, just stood there (like a fool) and watched her charge up and BOOM !!!! i was dead. hahahhahaha i had to laugh.
Well it was midnight and work tomorrow so off to bed with a smile on my face.

They spawn in set spots depending on what section they are invading you at.

Is it the dogs? Capra Demon is pretty freaking annoying with those dogs, if you get a spear and a decent shield you can poke him to death on a little jut of wall on the back righthand side that he doesn't appear to be able to reach. You could also possibly cast and throw stuff at him too.

During one of my trials i went straight in and threw a fireball which killed the dogs. Then i managed to get to the stairs and eventually died. "cracked it" i thought so off i went and bought 99 fireballs and went back for another go -- i think it was a one off cos i couldn't repeat the stunt...... anyway the fireball came in really handy for the darkroot garden - so no waste of souls

berkut wrote:When did you get back Zechk? Nice to see your around again

Thanks very much I've not been around as much because I was in Vancouver for 3.5 weeks as I'm hoping to move there shortly. I was job hunting and working out where I want to live etc.

A few things about the Capra Demon fight:

With a decent shield and endurance its possible to block his jumping attack.

If you stay locked on to Capra and walk backwards up the stairs, the dogs will not stop you in my experience.

If you wear armor or equip a ring that gives you poise, it's easier to kill the dogs.

undead lee wrote:On the Invading thing...... I've spent most, if not all, of the game as a hollow. Not by choice, its just that Humanity seems to be like rocking horse **it.

If you look at your item drop rating it will increase the more humanity you are currently holding on your HUD, That top left number, and I think it maxes out at 210 when you're holding ten. You can add another 200 to that number with the Covetous Serpent Ring. The higher the number basically, the more humanity and other items you'll pick up. Rats have a 1/10 chance of dropping humanity. That's pretty high considering the number of them in the Depths, which you're not far from going to.

Humanity will help you massively there, because you may fall down some holes and there are creatures down there that curse you, very nasty. Basically the more humanity you have then, the higher your curse resistance.

Domhnall wrote:Nope, it's not your imagination. You only need to be human to summon a jolly friend, or to invade someone via DMB/DW/Red Orbs.

The invading when summoned thing is a bug I believe. There was another topic around here in which people would try to invade, and end up spawning as a white phantom in their world. Sounds like what you are experiencing is the opposite of that, unless you had a covenant ring on.

Lol, that'd be a bit crazy, if you've geared up to invade and you're summoned as a white phantom lol.

I had a few hours on DS on Saturday so my intention was to crack the Capra Demon.... Well firstly I thought i'd give the summoning thing ago whilst hollow (DARK MASSIAH). Sure enough i was summoned to help someone fight the Capra Demon... fair enough..... and we won, it felt great... so it can be done quite easily with two people. So two miliseconds pasted when i thought if i go buy some humanity, make myself human, come back to this spot, summon help and i could do exactly the same thing.
Off i went - 5,000 souls later, reversed hollowing, on my way to the capra demon feeling THIS IS IT... and some *** invaded me - killing me - making me hollow again and the merchant who sold humanity now hasn't got any....FFS !!!!!

Kill the rats under the bridge with the red dragon (near the bonfire in undead burg). They will sometimes drop humanity.

Make sure to have at least two humanities before trying to summon help. After an invasion, you can not get another invasion for a while, so if you unhollow immediately, there is a good chance you can make it before beeing invaded again.

You can also get summoned to help someone else beat the boss - you get a soft humanity as reward.

Ahhh Nice one Mike, I'll give it ago.
I was sooooo annoyed - bloody dark wraiths......

Most of the Dark Wraiths in that area are Glitchers and Griefers, so once you get past the depths you should find that the Dark Wraiths are actually managable, especially if you have a phantom with you. But yeah, as mentioned you have a window after each invasion during which you won't be invaded. When you kill Capra and go into the depths near the bonfire are two groups of rats that you can farm for humanity very well.

You can also farm up to 10 POINTS of humanity (thats points in the humanity meter, not humanity consumables) from random enemies before killing the area boss in an area. It's slow as hell, but in a pinch it can be useful. To be honest though, with the state of burg being what it is, I suspect you would be a lot better soloing the Capra demon as a hollow and going to the depths where you can farm consumable humanities from the rats.

Hi Zechk
"random enemies before killing the area boss in an area" ?
I regularly sweep through the Berg on a soul farming task and don't come across any humanity - although (as mentioned earlier) i dont normally pass by the rats under the bridge, as i killed the red wyvern.
I've been toying with the idea of upping my Vitality as its still quiet low (12) - but i'll also start sweeping through the rats under the bridge in a hope of obtaining the humanity i need.
Muchios Gracias

Hello mate,

So have a quick look at this page: http://darksoulswiki.wikispaces.com/Humanity

Specifically:
"Humanity can be earned by killing a large amount of monsters in one area if the boss is alive (up to 10 Humanity).
Dying, using the bonfire, or leaving the area does not reset your monster kill count for that area."

This is what I'm harping on about. Basically, you won't come across humanity ITEMS. They will not appear in your inventory like the stuff from the rats and they wont pop up a prompt saying 'Grats on humanity!' like you are used to. You just get an extra point in the meter at the top right of the screen next to your life bar (the humanity meter). This is exactly the same as when you use a humanity item from your inventory and it vanishes, healing you and adding a point to your meter. Does that make sense?

It's worth noting that the drop rate is lame, so you might find you just don't get them very often. I just thought it was worth mentioning.

About the droprate of humanity-points: My experience has been that it's not been hard for me to get ONE humanity point by killing enemies just before an undefeated boss, but it may depend on the area.

On my first playthrough, I needed help against Iron Golem, and I was out of humanity. I just did bossruns until I got a humanity point, and I often got one from the soldier with the crossbow. I actually got a humanity point from that one enemy so often that it never became frustrating.

Thanks to all who posted on this thread i finially defeated the Capra demon last night.
As suggested i cycled through the bonfire and rats under the bridge and obtained a couple humanity. So off i went to the lower burg.
I have read the wiki on co-op play but inadvertently did it wrong on a number of occasions by laying down a summoning message myself (i know.... i'm thick!!).
After helping others defeat the Capra Demon three times (and getting even more humanity for my efforts) i realised i needed to summon someone off their marker..... now i know this is obvious to all.... but not me... so i'll assume there are some new players, like me, who will find this little gem of info some use.
I wrote a message at the little bridge just prior to the misty entrance. unfortunately there isn't any "Need Help" options in the text, so a "Need Knight / Need Soldier" etc was the closest thing i could think of...... sorry for all you experienced players for stating the obvious but i believe this little statement should be added in the wiki. I have seen these messages before and didn't realise what they were on about.... i told you i was alittle slow.........
Anyway - after a few minutes, success, and the key was mine --- thanks the to the person who helped me ---- i would have loved to thank them but the game does not allow apart from the mandatory reward of 3000 souls and a humanity point.

One Question ----- I had lots of Failed summons ---- any idea why?
OK, two questions ---- lots of another colour summon signs appeared are these invader summons wishing for a PvP fight?

Anyway i'm a very happy chappy who now has the delights of the depths to explore

That is entirely dependent on the colour of the sign.

White= Helpful/ any covenant player

Yellow/Gold= Sunbro (most likely a PvP bodyguard type or PvE dedicated player)

Red= Duelist/ Wishing for PvP

Silver Eye= Dragon Stone user (also looking for PvP)

If I'm missing anything someone will surely correct me.