For the Glory of Alvina

befowler wrote:Btw, another sort of tip I've been using in there is swapping chars. It took some doing, but now I have two sl120s in the forest, a faith build and an int build. Both purposefully have almost the exact same equip and gear loadout except for the talisman/catalyst. As we all know, fairly often you start to get into sorta a loop where you run into the same couple of farmers over and over. When that happens, I will swap back and forth between the two characters themselves, which adds to the mayhem. I look the same, same invasion name, and all that, 'cept sometimes it'll be CSS and CMW and the like, and other times WotG, sunlight blade etc depending on which build I'm using. Had one last night where I got killed on the faith build, swapped out, and 6 minutes later went back and killed them with the int build. I've already gotten a couple of nastygrams demanding to know my sl, as they assume I must be sl200+ or something to have all those spells on "one" char. I've been PMing back "It is the mystery of the dance."

"It is the mystery of the dance." - now that is good one . Great tactics switching up toons like that - it would definitely allow you to confuse a recurring set of opponents because they think they "know you".

I basically stumbled into being a hunter - I came up the back way lost, injured and confused after fighting those Cat possum things. I was to afraid to head towards the Astorias gate because I did not know exactly where and how many forest NPCs were laying in wait out the front door. So I look up and there she was - lovely Alvina. She pretty much made me an offer I could not refuse (plus I did not have the nerve to keep pressing forward at the time) - so here I am a hunter til Alvina tells me to get out of her forest.

Hey im trying to get the DWGR so if i kill shiva and his body gaurd can I absolute my sins and still be able to join the forest again?

cjmully wrote:Hey im trying to get the DWGR so if i kill shiva and his body gaurd can I absolute my sins and still be able to join the forest again?

Yes - so once you have joined the convenant and talk to Shiva in the forest - he will say he is going to Blightown. He will be located as the bottom of Blightown near the giant ferris wheel. His bodygaurd ninja will be locate on the other side of the wooden board near him. You should buy everything from Shiva before you kill him and the bodygaurd. I used Fire Tempest with Inner Strength and killed both of them at the same time. You should then go absolve your sins and then rejoin the covenant. Do not try to talk to Alvina before you absolve your sins or she will refuse to talk to you during your current playthrough - so you will not be able to rejoin the covenant.

Hopefully this helps.

I made the mistake of talking to her after hurting a member in NG and was repeatedly called a pernicious caitiff....a scar that lingers even still.

In other news, I did about an hour of forest hunting after some research for other threads last night and barely saw any farmers. I saw a lot of persons in farming style gear but almost everyone was alone and willing to duel. One group of farmers is one I see just about every night and the time I ran into him we lost (I wasn't fast enough to help the other hunter enough) but gave them a hell of a scare. The other group was tag teaming another hunter again with me late to the party. Not too late however. He was retreating and they focused on him and I OHKO'd the phantom with a backstab. I don't backstab a lot but this time was fun. The host saw me WAAAAY too late and panicked. The hunter must have seen me running up from a mile away because he slowed some when I got close and stopped right about the time I backstabbed. I pinned the host between a boulder and tree and took her down to almost nothing then rolled away letting her free but never far enough away between the two of us to heal. I started hucking poison knives at her while the other hunter circled in for the kill. I even tossed a knife at the corpse. Not sure why but I felt malicious last night. It's time to send a dang message!

Tolvo......I finally did it. I used to use the Chloranthy ring for stamina regen but decided to finally try the DWGR last night. I look silly but it is a lot easier to roll away from attacks. Also, I had been toying with a roll past the guy and turn attack technique for a while and this made it instantly viable.

Good stuff skarekrow. What usually happens to me when I've peeled away the summons and am down to the tasty nougat center that is the host is that they disconnect :roll:

One thing I'd note about the "duelists" is that I've seen a lot that end up that way because they can't get summons to work. Had a couple runs last night where I kept getting "summoning phantom" messages as I headed to the stairs, but the guy was clearly getting failed summons. So when I showed he suddenly acted like he wanted a fair and honorable duel. If he had summons, I have no doubt it would have been gank central. Basically if the host is in any way dressed like a farmer, I head straight in. Duelists usually have different gear and won't be trying to summon.

I had a couple of those and of course a few I saw were those and took advantage of their connection issues. One actively started looking to summon in the middle of the fight and I did a WoG at a distance to show him that would not be tolerated. Surprisingly he finished the duel. But I swear.....last night I saw a LOT of persons willing to duel. I'm talking people not waiting at the stairs at all or rushing into the forest for me without a phantom. Never seen anything like it. One must have been a hunter as we fought under the watchful gaze of Shiva.

Speaking of this.....Tolvo....I feel a little foolish....I am on NG++, only character I have ever made so of course I killed Sif for the Soul to platinum the game. So naturally I would not be getting invaded. D'oh!

The ironic issue when running into a true duelist is being completely out of my element for 1v1. My hunter gear is very much divide and conquer and is based on deception, hiding and crits.

LOL so you were stealing all my good 1v1 hunting attempts last night Skarekrow...I got nothing but filth and farmers myself. I invade this idiot twice in a row both times it was a 2v1 with the 2 being me and a caster...The caster rushes him so I stand by watching he beats the caster so its my turn and of course he is using BKGA and TWOP he gets a BS but I break the chain and let him swing and whiff and stunlock him with my claymore and kill him. 2nd time it was weird the same caster and I invade him and once again the caster rushes him and I wait...the caster is getting the best of him so of course he is chugging flasks so naturally I run over and hit him with llyods...then he TWOP and rushes ME tryn to fish a BS I circle him while the caster finishes him....just filth every time I see this guy I will wait again but anything goes for the fight just outta spite!!!!

Found something interesting with the Cleric NPC just now. I never knew he was able to actually heal hunters, Mostly because farmers would clear out the NPCs and ignore the shrooms and ents.

DarkW17 wrote:LOL so you were stealing all my good 1v1 hunting attempts last night Skarekrow...I got nothing but filth and farmers myself. I invade this idiot twice in a row both times it was a 2v1 with the 2 being me and a caster...The caster rushes him so I stand by watching he beats the caster so its my turn and of course he is using BKGA and TWOP he gets a BS but I break the chain and let him swing and whiff and stunlock him with my claymore and kill him. 2nd time it was weird the same caster and I invade him and once again the caster rushes him and I wait...the caster is getting the best of him so of course he is chugging flasks so naturally I run over and hit him with llyods...then he TWOP and rushes ME tryn to fish a BS I circle him while the caster finishes him....just filth every time I see this guy I will wait again but anything goes for the fight just outta spite!!!!

Yeah - I also have about 4-5 campers I have invaded consistently that I will kill (or bang) on sight - honor is thrown completely out the window. They are on my bingo list with their gamertags written down with "big red crayon". I refuse to duel these types of campers - if a camper trash talks after getting killed (or after I die from the same bang bros repeatedly), runs away to summon another phatom when the first one died a horrible death, etc you are on the list.

So if anyone invades with me (XBOX) during the event and it looks like I have gone "beserker rage crazy" on a camper - they were most likely on my list.

cloudyeki wrote:Found something interesting with the Cleric NPC just now. I never knew he was able to actually heal hunters, Mostly because farmers would clear out the NPCs and ignore the shrooms and ents.

That's cool, I did not know that. He healed you, or one of the hunter NPCs?

cloudyeki wrote:Found something interesting with the Cleric NPC just now. I never knew he was able to actually heal hunters, Mostly because farmers would clear out the NPCs and ignore the shrooms and ents.

Yeah - the cleric can cast a Soothing Sunlight (not the actuall miracle though) type of heal on any allies. I found this out a while ago when another hunter and I was fighting the fastest ninja type camper I ever seen. The ninja kept getting hits in on us but the cleric kept casting AoE heal - it was great and probably what saved both of us. Most campers will immediately kill the cleric for this reason - so if you ever invade and the cleric is still alive do your best to protect him since he could be the one to save yours.

Yup....I like to lure farmers to the cleric and ax guy if they're alive and protect the cleric. I gave one guy the surprise of a lifetime as he had managed to work me and the cleric down and BAM we're both back to full life. I love me some cleric. I also have at least one farmer who made the permanent list of anything goes tactics. Never seen this guy without at least one phantom, has jumped me at the stairs and taunted like he's a hero for him and his buddy getting me before I can move.

By the way if you engage the farmers away from the cleric then run to the cleric she should heal you, I've had it work before but it seems just like with the NPC's, she will cast her spell if she notices anyone on her side with damage done to them. So you can fight by the stairs, retreat and let the sorcerer and assassin occupy them while you go off to heal. Provided the hunters are still alive of course.

Sweet, yes, the few times I've seen him alive during an invasion the fight always ended up far away from him and I never saw him go into action. He's almost always dead, and this explains why. Great tips guys.

befowler wrote:

That's cool, I did not know that. He healed you, or one of the hunter NPCs?

Saved me from a DSS to the face and got me the win. It's going into my list of Turn Around Victories.

By the way I'm going to be setting up a little "How To Use?" weapons list for in the forest and areas where certain weapons will be at their best. So far I've got,

Rapier, Bandit's Knife, Murakumo, Iaito, Silver Knight Sword, Silver Knight Spear, Ricard's Rapier, Estoc, Demon Spear, Great Lord Sword, Pickaxe, Gargoyle Halberd, Pike, Balder Side Sword.

Any other ones people want to see in there?

Tolvo wrote:By the way I'm going to be setting up a little "How To Use?" weapons list for in the forest and areas where certain weapons will be at their best. So far I've got,

Rapier, Bandit's Knife, Murakumo, Iaito, Silver Knight Sword, Silver Knight Spear, Ricard's Rapier, Estoc, Demon Spear, Great Lord Sword, Pickaxe, Gargoyle Halberd, Pike, Balder Side Sword.

Any other ones people want to see in there?

Tolvo - I recommend adding the Channeler's Trident to your list. I have had great success with it - the AoE buff effect has been really useful - especially if you have another hunter who know what to when you pop it off. Also, I had the trents virtually tear a camper to pieces when he mistakenly followed me to the cliff area. Because of all of the targets he was presented with and the fact I was on the other side of the trents - he did not stand a chance when surronded by crazed bushes whose AR has been increased by 85% or better. With decent Dex and Int a hunter can do some good Phy/Mag damage also - plus in my opinion it is the quickest of all spear type weapons (the 1H R2 double hit attack is sweet!!)

Thanks for doing this bro.

I'm doing more of a combat tactics and situational awareness of areas to use the weapons in type thing, I can buff with it but I don't have the int to actually hit with the trident. On my GL in time though I can work on that since he is an Int character.

Tolvo wrote:I'm doing more of a combat tactics and situational awareness of areas to use the weapons in type thing, I can buff with it but I don't have the int to actually hit with the trident. On my GL in time though I can work on that since he is an Int character.

Yeah - when you get your GL's Intel up - definitely check the Trident out. I pair this with my Mura just in case I run into a camper who either has fast attack weapon (rapier, velka, etc) so I can maintain distance and still hurt 'em or they are using a spear type weapon. The Trident has paired up well against the DSS and Demon Spear.

Yeah trident is a good one, although I mostly use it for buffs. Might be an honorable mention - I have found it surprisingly tricky to time it in there, since it takes a while for the buff to go off but it only lasts maybe 15-20 seconds. Trying it solo with some mobs often gets me in trouble, I usually need another hunter around as a distraction and then it is a complete game changer.

Claymore may be cliched, but I find it quite effective in there. It rarely hangs up on trees or the scenery, and can be effective against long reach weapons and even do a little dead angling. I swap it in for my BSS if I need better stunlocking or greater BS damage.

Do you really use a pickaxe? Looking forward to hearing about that one.

I use the pick axe after I've killed the two summons and am left with a very poor farmer alone. I take that out and embarrass them with it, but it isn't all that bad of a weapon. I'll upgrade a claymore and mess around with it.

the pick axe is murder on heavy armor cause of its high scaling and thrust damage type, i've also had success knocking shield away with it...

Scythe scythe scythe scythe scythe. Lol. Great idea Tolvo. Should we have a list of members with weapon specialties? Kind of an "ask a hunter" list

Which Scythe do you mean, Lifehunter I can't get since I'm keeping Prisc alive, but Great and regular I have both Chaos versions and can mess around with. Though regular Scythe will have the same tips as the Gargoyle Halberd.

There is already that with me and Broke in regards to the Murakumo haha.