PVP Advice from Experienced Players...

Hi all,

This post started as an anecdote from myself and then I though it would be a good idea for everyone who
does pvp to post their tactics and advice so we all learn from each other, thanks in advance for all who
add to this.



I am not doing much pvp out of FC and been focused on making 2 new build the past few days, used to spend my days at the forest where I honed my skills killing gangs.Now I get invaded with my low lvl and my 120sl either while building up the toon or hosting fights, also I like to earn souls to lvl toons by getting invaded at anor londo especially by DarkMoons because they can invade down and give lots of souls.

I have noticed something in me has changed with time and after endless hours of different pvp playstyles.
I am still hooked on it and get excited when invading or getting invaded, but I remember the old days when every single confrontation got my heart racing as if it was so real a threat, my mind was a mess and fear of loosing overpowered my focus,not anymore...

The new kind of excitement is now a focused one, what will my opponent do? what skills will he have,
I watch as confident as a beast born for hunting, I do not flinge I observe and my thoughts are only
tactical and focused towards my enemies moves.Watching his feet, calculating when the strike will come
so I can counter, watching his hands and being aware of when he has switched to magic so I can dodge
and most of all patience, sometimes I walk slowly and sense him, he gets ****, scared or impatient
until his own strikes towards me are his undoing....

Patience and observation my friends, forget stats, forget upgrades and control your minds
in that aspect, then you will feel like a real warrior.

Dedicated to all pvpers and especially the new ones, take advantage of this, never let your mind
lead to your own loss, embrace death as a step forward in learning, after all this game can be unforgving
but is forgiving enough that you can always revive even if you loose some souls or humanities, you
are still there, never see death as failure because even the best of players in this game will also die.

Nice speech there. And thanks for the advice I am hoping to improve my pvp win loss ratio so far its 0.76 (yes I did the match for every 3 wins I have I also have about 4 losses but I am getting better.

Good view from an experienced player indeed. Sometimes being impatient can lose you a winning game.

I'd also like to add that players should try to play beyond their comfort zones, namely styles, weapons and patterns. I started out playing very careful with spears, poking at safe distances. It was a fine style, but afterwards I tried using swords, and settled with katanas for the flexible moveset and buffed my Iaito. And then I tried using a Great Lord Great Sword, and loved that too. Recently I fell in love with the BSS and Estoc, switching between these constantly in duels. The similar appearances cath a lot of people off guard. Next when I go home in July I'll try using the MLGS mixed with sorcery and chameleon (yes in duels, I've seen it do magic, literally). After that I'll give super slow and heavy str builds a go. It might be too slow for my tastes, but there's always the MSGS when that happens.

My point is, you'll always find a new style or pattern you like better than your last, and you'll rediscover past favourites just as often. Always try new stuff, especially in a game as full of variety as DkS.

Hey I totally agree! Some great info there you know what? This made me think I am gonna change the title so that everyone who is a little experienced in pvp gives some advice, I think many could benefit from this, thanks to both for posting, let's all learn from each other.

I will summarize JY4 and say what you mean is be spontaneous and bold maybe? Never constant, don't
let your enemy read you easily.

Yesuurd, u may observe my pants in the pit next time so i wooped your *** hahaha.
I mostly in forest during my build. Never buff and walk very slowly and kick instead of slashing just to scare oppenent with scythe.
But there are also a few skilled invaders who i losses. And i lose every BS fishers

Btw do you when i attack by observing me? I do fake attacks a lot actially if anyone noticed

I wanna see that new build of yours G, I won't even care about the pants just once.
In spirit of the thread would you give recommendations on your playstyle, how you
use your scythe etc..I want this to be a record from many users who pvp so we collect
info.

If we can keep the focus on tips and hints for less experienced people in this thread (or make another 'banter free' one) then I'll get it stickied in this section. It's a pretty nifty idea.

Let's see there... I'll come up with a list

1) Be wary of rapiers and Bandit's knives
2) Be wary of full giants/mask flipping combos
3) If you invade a 3v1, you're in the wrong place at the wrong time
4) Don't take chances with casts, dodge until the projectile is past you, lag is a horrible thin after all
5) If you ain't cart wheeling or fast rolling, somethings gonna go wrong for you
6) Patience is everything, don't rush in crazily, don't leave yourself gaping.
7) If a guy whacks out a talisman mid-fight, run in the opposite direction.
8) If you do respond to hatemail, make it a non malicious and witty response
9) Wear trousers (pants). Seriously.
10) Enjoy every match if possible, even your losses and you'll get better as a result.

How's those for a little list? Not most helpful but for what it's worth its just a few guidelines to avoid disappointment.

Ok im gonna post it later okay. @ work now cooking in my kitchen while dreamin of DrkS
@ Serious: think Y. means how do you play and attack. Your moveset and how do you encounter others, right?

Zechk wrote:If we can keep the focus on tips and hints for less experienced people in this thread (or make another 'banter free' one) then I'll get it stickied in this section. It's a pretty nifty idea.

Yes exacty thanks Zechk, that would be the ideal thing....

@Green

Post whatever tips, strategies you use and take your time thinking it over.

@Serious

Thanks for the tips that's the idea right there, everyones points will be appreciated.

GrEeNgObLiN wrote:Ok im gonna post it later okay. @ work now cooking in my kitchen while dreamin of DrkS
@ Serious: think Y. means how do you play and attack. Your moveset and how do you encounter others, right?

I have no playstyle gob, i just do what I feel like in the middle of the battle

If there are any patterns at all, they are done subconsciously. I really don't care too much about developing a punishing and ruthless playstyle, just having fun.

Over thinking things and bearing too much on how to win can detract from how much you enjoy PvP. I guess that's the best advice I can give to newer players

Keep your composure. Don't panic. Especially if you and your opponent are down to the very last bit of life. It's at that point where people tend to get over zealous and make mistakes that will decide the outcome of the battle.

Never hold back the final blow it may be your last mistake. Plenty of times I have held back to extend the fight only to be destroyed by a spell or cheap tactic..lol

@Serious

Green was right but if that is your way that is your way and as I said every advice will be appreciated.

@Ted

Great advice and a bit similar to mine, many of us loose from impatience or overconfidence you see the opponent's low health and start hacking away
to suddenly see yourself die.

You remind me of Zepaki Karachi of Bleach, who loved fighting so much
he would extend the fights for fun, that's cool and all but if you plan to
win it's dangerous, I know you do it for other reasons though from
the little time I have known you, thanks for posting Ted.


More advice for new players, value your stamina not only your vitality, test yourself out
know how many blows you can achieve without running out of it, always leave enough
so you can dodge and keep distance.

Ok mine,
I always look first with witch weapon the opponent is using,witch gear also. Than i mostly come closer(after green blos and buff) but do not attack yet if its a heavy armor build, i gently evade if he attacks till i get a bit an idea how he plays. Im mostly a great Scythe player so i cannot attack in combos, i also relies on stamina, i needed a lot so i dont use all my stamina so if i make an mistake i can evade. What i also do alot is run towards and just roll away instead of attack, varietion is important. If your oppenent know your moveset is harder to defeat him. So i do fake a lot and if oppenent makes a move while faking and can easely attack hil cause he's attacking another way.
I never uses shield,never. Always on my back for stamina. (exept for claws cause no choise)
Always 2handed is my style. Also i never defend with weapon. I always evade. Sometimes to much so pretty annoying actually.
If i see mages i do directly run attack cause most mages are predictible. So run slash and directly jumpattack . You must know good how much stamina your weap uses with every attack. When oppenent makes a mistake i ll take advandage of it and do (if im close enough) a R2 attack and roll back. If you see your oppenent is making lot of moves youll also know his stamina runs almost empty so i do run attack and directly a r2 attack(depends of weapon).
Important is that u must know your moveset of weapon very well.
I dont uses this tactics with my claws for example. Every weapon has his benefits and disadvantage(sorry for english)
Hope this may help
Burt all of this is mine oppinion. Everybody plays different, that makes FC intresting

In my experience POISE is everything I don't mean become a flipping mask/full havel user but POISE=WIN for sure. You should always wear the armour setup that your comfortable using and that can give you the best poise while still being able to fast roll/flip. If you like light armour or robes thats fine also I do this with heater shield/hornet/rapier for some parry/BS fun but always be cautious that you will be stunlocked if your caught.

Also know your armour and be aware of all the effects for example sure the crown of dusk boosts all magic but it also leaves you open to huge magic damage.

Never give up or panic its never to late to win patience can be a blessing and so can aggression you just have to learn when its best to do 1 or the other and strike with vengeance. I have got so many late no health stunlock wins just by being patient and tactical.

Always try different weapons and styles till you find the move set you like...its not always about what does the most damage in 1 hit. With buffed weapons speed can win you alot more over power...when I come in 2 handing my CMW buffed darksword I can do 800 a swing but I can do 6-8 quick swings were with my Mura or MSGS I only have 4-5 and they buff up to 980 sure but they are slow....till they stunlock lol.

Punish mistakes don't fish a BS but if they are doing it learn to get better at it and let them know there fishing attempts will find them on the end of your sword. If they come at you spamming a R1 attack throw a parry/rpstl out there and show them just because they have a huge BKGA it doesnt make them invincible.

But most of all win or loose have fun and learn from people that are better than you....I never hesitate to spend a GG msg to anyone who has bested me!!!

Hej guys.
Ive been pvping in this game for a couple of weeks now and im doing pretty decent i think.
But everytime i meet a guy with a spear i always seem to lose.
They just wait for me to attack and counter with a poke till im dead.
Im a melee heavy build and only got some pyromance for backup.

Does anyone got some tips for fighting spear wielders?

Yesuurd wrote:@Serious

Green was right but if that is your way that is your way and as I said every advice will be appreciated.

sorry, was just replying to Gob

Bamjam. Apparently the best way is to BS you as that's the 'most effective way.. :| (just something some chain BSer said to me as excuse, don't take it to heart ) My opinion though is spears have weakness in their straight attacks, but pull back before too so you can easily dodge them. Just rolling to the side or into the attack means you can avoid them with relative ease and sloppy attacks with them can get punished in this way or even parried. I exploit is the lack of variation in the way spears attack, they are more predictable than most weapons.

turtlers though, you have to break their guard, high power spells such as soul spear and WoG do the trick well, or something like firestorm that doesn't get affected by shield works. for melee, you could use BS i suppose or R1 spam to beak guard (not great, you'll get parried in all likelihood) but i find that exploiting the dead angles to get hits in is best, go around the shield.

Serious- Hmm im gonna need to try rolling into the spear attack i guess.
Ive been doing an attack and rolling backwards but everytime i roll back i get poked.
And dont even start about parrying i suck so hard at it lol.
Last night i met a guy with a spear buffed with the faith lightning buff he destroyed me so bad that i ragequit after a few tries haha.

Thanks for the tips and more tips on fighting spear wielders are always welcome

Im not agree with the poise factor. If u play like me i almost never get staggerd. Only person who staggers me was kingfish in FC. I think evade works better for ME than poise. Poise is good to have a min so let u evade after one hit. But poise os not always the winning glorie

GrEeNgObLiN wrote:Im not agree with the poise factor. If u play like me i almost never get staggerd. Only person who staggers me was kingfish in FC. I think evade works better for ME than poise. Poise is good to have a min so let u evade after one hit. But poise os not always the winning glorie

Can anyone suggest some tips for dealing with LAG with GreenGoblin's playstyle? I too always either have fast roll or flip, and wear light armor with either 0-20 poise (maybe from my gauntlets).

I find that when I run in and fake out to a back roll or side roll, these slow-swinging great clubs and great swords still manage to connect and/or stagger me, even though I'm about a full back roll from where their sword/gaxe/club smashes the ground...

Its really infuriating to whittle a guy down to near death than have him one-shot me with a R2 ground slam when I appear to be safely out of reach.

Bamjam wrote:Hej guys.
Ive been pvping in this game for a couple of weeks now and im doing pretty decent i think.
But everytime i meet a guy with a spear i always seem to lose.
They just wait for me to attack and counter with a poke till im dead.
Im a melee heavy build and only got some pyromance for backup.

Does anyone got some tips for fighting spear wielders?

Spears are easy to roll through if you roll towards them in an angle and then hit, don't know what
weapon you are using though, have high poise so you don't get too staggered by their constant
hits.

Use distance as your advantage too, they expect their weapon to have enough distance as to kill
you without you getting close, they do not expect you to attack from a distance, they also will
have patience and poke you to death, have more patience than them, throw dung, arrows, fireballs
anything to break their comfort zone.

Spears are easy to parry if you have high poise also, you should parry and punish them, that will
be a good surprise for them.

People don't condonde BS here but as Serious said, if you can get behind them punish them
with BS.

If you have acid surge use it on them.

Poise again is very important if you have a big weapon that will stagger like a zwei or whatever and you
have much poise, get in there and take a few hits, then break em down.

There are shields that will repel spears more than others and make your opponent loose focus.


If anyone can add anymore....go ahead.

SATLOS wrote:

GrEeNgObLiN wrote:Im not agree with the poise factor. If u play like me i almost never get staggerd. Only person who staggers me was kingfish in FC. I think evade works better for ME than poise. Poise is good to have a min so let u evade after one hit. But poise os not always the winning glorie

Can anyone suggest some tips for dealing with LAG with GreenGoblin's playstyle? I too always either have fast roll or flip, and wear light armor with either 0-20 poise (maybe from my gauntlets).

I find that when I run in and fake out to a back roll or side roll, these slow-swinging great clubs and great swords still manage to connect and/or stagger me, even though I'm about a full back roll from where their sword/gaxe/club smashes the ground...

Its really infuriating to whittle a guy down to near death than have him one-shot me with a R2 ground slam when I appear to be safely out of reach.

I also play like Green alot and we dex monkeys make a grave mistake when depending on our rolls.

We roll sideways or backwards to evade but sometimes the best roll is towards your opponent, even more
if they have a big weapon because you will either land behind them if you do it right or you will land in a safe area very close to the opponent where the weapon will not damage you, this depends of course on the weapon, if you see people with BKGA for example, watch them closely and you will notice most can only
hit 3 consecutive times.Use this to your advantage and find a window to hit, i fyou have lag and get bs'ed
don't roll away when you stand up, either roll forward or try to parry(Tolvo taught me this trick, if you parry and press your joystick diagonally you will either nullify the attack or might even get a parry/riposte which will get your opponents attention if not kill him right there)

Bamjam wrote:Hej guys.
Ive been pvping in this game for a couple of weeks now and im doing pretty decent i think.
But everytime i meet a guy with a spear i always seem to lose.
They just wait for me to attack and counter with a poke till im dead.
Im a melee heavy build and only got some pyromance for backup.

Does anyone got some tips for fighting spear wielders?

they like to hide behind their shield while fighting but if you learn the timing you can parry the spear and riposte. Those guys never see it coming. if that doesn't do it for you then if you have the dragon slayer bow you can shoot their shields of from a distance heck you might even knock them off of a cliff. Or you could get in close and use a shotel those weapons ignore shield but they have poor reach.

https://soulswiki.forumotion.com/t2307-for-the-glory-of-alvina

You can find all of my tactics and many tactics from other Forest Hunters here, I figure it's better to link it rather than make a sixty paragraph post.

Tolvo wrote:https://soulswiki.forumotion.com/t2307-for-the-glory-of-alvina

You can find all of my tactics and many tactics from other Forest Hunters here, I figure it's better to link it rather than make a sixty paragraph post.

you know this is for mainly dueling tactics, right? I think

hows about you tell us the in's and outs of your dueling tactics then?

I think number 1 for you is the R1 "please stunlock the guy" spam