For the Glory of Alvina

Ok. I think those are good rules! Looks like I have some leveling to do.

But about invading the forest, I've noticed that mobility is the key to success for me. DWGR and fast rolling has saved me countless of times. The downside is that I can't have as high poise as I'd like to.

Speed is necessary, but so is strategy Fin. Figure your advantages out and press them. Mobs and Environ and your own weapons and skills vs just the gankers skills and weapons.

Poise is only useful in a straight forward fight. we're hunters, we only fight like that win we know we can win

Well said. Unfortunately the gankers I've faced have usually already killed majority of the enemies there. In those situations, I often try to wait for another invader.

If you have the fog ring, it's time to grief them then

Practice Archery and lead them on a goose hunt! I love the fog ring because at a good distance they'll just see a random arrow hit there head.

cloudyeki wrote:If you have the fog ring, it's time to grief them then

Practice Archery and lead them on a goose hunt! I love the fog ring because at a good distance they'll just see a random arrow hit there head.

Ring of fog ??
Does that work when you're a blue phantom ??

Most of the time I leed them to the bridge were Alvina is sitting, it's nice and narrow so no BS'ing in there
Also lloyd's talismans will always hit there and if they are gankers they also get my toxic spell there
So it will cost them and i don't use toxic in good fights

It works at a distance. if you stay in the darker spots among the trees they'll never see you till it's too late.

I just got my STR up to 28 for the Mura, should I go with Normal, Chaos, or Occult? I intend to have plenty of dex, plenty of faith, and 10 humanity if I go with chaos. I've already got the slab for occult, but I'd have to grab the ember...

Quarik wrote:I just got my STR up to 28 for the Mura, should I go with Normal, Chaos, or Occult? I intend to have plenty of dex, plenty of faith, and 10 humanity if I go with chaos. I've already got the slab for occult, but I'd have to grab the ember...

Quarik - hey bro. Go with the normal Mura - try to max it out if you can. The amount of normal damage you will do will usually overwhelm a hosts physical defenses allowing you to do more damage. Plus you will be able to buff it (I personally like poison ) to do even more damage. If you must go with a specialized Mura - go with the Chaos since you get additional damage output from your humanity (go ahead and take your humanity to 99 if possible to increase your various defense/resistance ratings). You are going to really love the stun-locking and poise breaking the Mura offers. Also, I recommend you find a good area in the game to practice your unlocked Mura fighting since the dead angling of the Mura is fantastic. It will be awkward at first fighting unlocked but you will get the hang of it.

An Occult Mura is also a possibility but only use this version if you are going for a faith build since the occult scales with faith but my overall recommendation is a Normal Mura +15.

I hope this helps. Hopefully we will be fighting side by side in the forest in the near future.

Good hunting!!

Ok - friends and country men/women of Alvina - here is the latest installment of Forest Defense videos for your viewing pleasure. I have not been able to do much invading since I am taking my final exams (trying to finish up my Doctorate and its killing me ).

Roll the tape...

In this video I am banged and killed twice by one of my Arch-nemesis. I fought against this farmer a few times and I have only been able to kill him once. This camper gets no love from Broke ever - so if I upload a vid banging this dude I will offer no caveats or apologies.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SCBmvl61biQ

In this video I am fighting a camper who loves to use his melee weapon's special attacks. I have fought alot of hosts who use such weapons so I am pretty good at dodging these type of attacks. I did make one error by not blasting the host when he was repairing his Demon Axe (I think that is one of the weapons he was using). Luckily I came out on top in this bout

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QhiG6bUBaaY


In this vid - its basically a 1v1. The camper appears to be fairly inexperienced but he was BS fishing plus he loved using TWoP. I have found blasting a farmer with a CSS when they first cast it makes them very hesitant to immediately approach while its active - ranged spells are great defense against TWoP. I did run out of stamina at one point (still working on my stamina management) so that is why I hesitate a bit during the last part of the fight. I had hurt the camper badly so he seeks refuge at the top of the stairs - luckily I had one last CSS left and was able to kill him. I personally hate fighting on those stairs and will only go up there as a last resort.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DjfyWNm0pAk

In this video I am fighting a camper who is very full of himself. He makes the fatal mistake of gesturing during battle and caught a CSS to the face for his insolence. I really tried to get under this camper's skin and I think I was successful. He make the error of not healing after I blasted him and closed in for some close combat to his detriment. As you watch this vid you can see I was able to achieve complete poise collapse on the host upon my second hit - the camper's poise collapsed (you can see and hear the collapse after the second hit - this is the effect you are looking for) to such an extent it interrupted his attack. It is my belief there are two types of stun-lock - one in which the camper can still attack you (partial poise collapse with quick recovery) and the more sever version when it will interrupt their attacks turning them into shrimp bait (total & complete poise collapse where they cannot defend themselves at all). Also, I don't know if the other hunter who invades is simply taking up an invasion slot (if he knows the camper and this is their plan to isolate me - I have seen this tactic before) or if the hunter was being honorable and he wanted to wait his turn.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NeGq11PHYis

I love extended fights (kinda like kenpachi) - I would rather have a long fight and die than a short fight with a win. The smell and taste of battle is invigorating!!

Enjoy the vids my brethren and learn from my mistakes. Comments are welcomed as always.

Good day everyhunter. I've been protecting the forest for a while now and for some reason didn't think of checking out the covenants page on the wiki. Thanks for all the tips and facts about different weapons. I'm currently going with the full ninja set, with a chaos Gargoyle's halberd +4, and a Murakumo +15 and all's going decent. Just wanted to sign in and say thanks

Digitalyzed wrote:Good day everyhunter. I've been protecting the forest for a while now and for some reason didn't think of checking out the covenants page on the wiki. Thanks for all the tips and facts about different weapons. I'm currently going with the full ninja set, with a chaos Gargoyle's halberd +4, and a Murakumo +15 and all's going decent. Just wanted to sign in and say thanks

Welcome fellow hunter. You are amongst a band of dedicated allies of Alvina just trying to keep the forest clear and clean of villainous curs. Take a load off, take a look around and participate in the wide ranging discussions as you see fit.

Glad to see you are also a Mura wielder - in tradition of Shiva himself - it is an excellent weapon for defending the forest.

Also, if you are on the XLN send me a PM on the forum with your gamertag and I will send you a friend request. I always like to know when a fellow is on-line doing their thing so I can lend an asisst.

TehInfamousAmos wrote:Always welcome a new lad, dont worry bro... your english is better than many people who I've met.. okay btw you could always film with a laptop and I would be happy to watch over and talk about your playstyle etc. My current favourite build is all about the Balder Swag Sword, it is great for dead angles etc and then my partisan can handle many people if i get to low life for my RTS ring to proc. I am quite strong at parrying so that is why i enjoy the build so much, but i am planning on creating Laurentius build [url=http://mugenmonkey.com/darksouls/?c=181142974

http://mugenmonkey.com/darksouls/?c=181142974[/quote[/url]]

TehInfamousAmos - I did not know you could get some dead-angles with the BSS. I love this weapon so I am going to have to give that a try.

Thank you for this nugget of knowledge.

Good videos Brokewilly, you have gotten visibly better at inventory management, retreat running, and CSS (all things I need to work on).

And yes I think you can dead angle to varying degrees of effectiveness with any of the big arc horizontal sweep weapons. I can sometimes do it with the claymore or even BSS although the bigger ones tend to work better. I'm legitimately scared of muras now, heh.

Broke....good stuff again.
Some thoughts:
First fight- I've been there for sure. I'm surprised the trees weren't more help in the one fight, they usually swarm better than that. I would have likely done similarly
Second Fight- Way to make glue out of that one trick pony. Adapt or die. He chose the latter. He shows why if it doesn't work the first six times, maybe it's time for something else.
Third fight- Great job with the victory. I might have to start using projectile magic more often. As a Scythe user I'm not sure if this will come across as gloating or a sincere question but what kind of two handed running attacks does the Mura have? I love runner because of the two handed R1. You barely lose any speed and therefore pressure on the guy and I find if you can attack from the side you can dead angle quite well......quite well indeed. The recovery off the attack is good too in case they swipe at you and it can break guard fairly well too. If the Mura has a similar running attack that can become bread and butter for Estus chuggers and runners.
Fourth fight- Excellent use of putting the fight on your terms. Most people I see in the forest bring the fight to the camper rather than the camper to the fight. As we all know the stairs are not the safest place. You got him to move away from potential help and out of his comfort level. Phobos will be pleased!

Just a word to the wise, if a weapon has an arc attack, it can dead angle.

Also I'll do a video breakdown thing like usual Broke, just a bit busy and ill right now. And welcome new hunter!

skarekrow13 wrote:Broke....good stuff again.
Some thoughts:
First fight- I've been there for sure. I'm surprised the trees weren't more help in the one fight, they usually swarm better than that. I would have likely done similarly
Second Fight- Way to make glue out of that one trick pony. Adapt or die. He chose the latter. He shows why if it doesn't work the first six times, maybe it's time for something else.
Third fight- Great job with the victory. I might have to start using projectile magic more often. As a Scythe user I'm not sure if this will come across as gloating or a sincere question but what kind of two handed running attacks does the Mura have? I love runner because of the two handed R1. You barely lose any speed and therefore pressure on the guy and I find if you can attack from the side you can dead angle quite well......quite well indeed. The recovery off the attack is good too in case they swipe at you and it can break guard fairly well too. If the Mura has a similar running attack that can become bread and butter for Estus chuggers and runners.
Fourth fight- Excellent use of putting the fight on your terms. Most people I see in the forest bring the fight to the camper rather than the camper to the fight. As we all know the stairs are not the safest place. You got him to move away from potential help and out of his comfort level. Phobos will be pleased!

Skare - yes the Mura does have a solid 2H running attack (similar) to the 1H running attack. I believe the GS and the Mura are comparable from in this respect. I usually only 2H the Mura when I'm in close quarters combat with a opponent I want to finish quickly. I use the 1H running attack most of the time though so I can quickly raise my shield if needed.

Yes - use ranged projectile magic if u have it. Befowler got me using the CSS and it is absolutely beautiful because it completely destroys your opponents poise even if they are wearing full Havels.

My new PVR just came in and it looks like it is 100% stable - now I can record invasions in earnest. Many more vids to come people. Also, can't wait for Tolvo to post some vids - really want to visually see old and new techniques I may be able to use in battle.

I just noticed that with most weapons, after you quickstep backwards(Tap B) and use your basic RB attack, you'll sprint forward with a thrusting attack. I've never seen this used in PvP before, nor have I seen the altered basic attack that you can perform right after a roll.
Is it just luck of the draw that I haven't encountered these tactics, or is there a legitimate reason no one seems to use them?

Probably the reason it isn't used is while your in the heat of the moment your not gonna backstep, your gonna dodge back so you'll only get the roll attack.

I noticed that the distance covered with the thrust is significantly more than the distance you jump back, so I was thinking you could catch your opponent off guard and lunge into their face when they least expect it.

The idea is sound, its execution that's the problem

I use that move sometimes, although you're right it is very rare in PvP. I particularly like the spear's attack, as it is very fast with good range and almost always surprises people since they don't expect a spear user to be that quick. The claymore's is pretty good too - it is not a thrust but actually a forward sweep attack that works particularly well against multiple enemies. If you mix them up with run/roll attacks you can really ruin someone's day (i.e., sprint or forward roll+R1, backflip, R1).

My guess as to why they're not used in PvP much is that they're often hard to combo if the target is moving. But the extra reach and speed can make a difference if your opponent has predictable patterns due to casting, reloading etc. I enjoy punishing Avelyn users during their reloads with these moves for example.

Broke, remind me when I get back to give you that feedback.

Also, who would be interested in...A Forest Hunter User Covenant?

Just checking who would be interested, nothing is official...Yet.

The backstep attack is, as far as I can tell, the sprinting attack. It's especially fantastic on rapiers cuz of their ridiculous double-hit. Low damage, but it tends to keep the farmers at bay. For the mura, thanks for all of the suggestions. I decided to go with +15, just need to farm darkwraiths and octo creatures for a while for my reg and red slabs. The one thing I'd say is that you should switch away from the mura if you can't divide the enemy or get them both in a small space. The wind up is so slow that if you don't stagger both targets on the first hit, one will almost always bs you. If you can get 5-10 seconds of leeway, get a bit of poise, take a hit while you wind up, and smack the crap out of someone. With slb at +13 I can stack up ~1500 damage with 3/4s of my stamina. Not quite as good as RTSR+HR+PW, but a lot less dangerous for you. Also, what's the general consensus on power within? Is it worth using for a quick kill?

Oh, and many times yes Tolvo. I'd totally join a covenant.

Tolvo.....I always thought this thread was already the equivalent of the in game equivalent. A rag tag bunch that's hell bent on forest domination. Might as well make it formal

Except we'd be called Men in Tights.