Need to know if my builds a fail or not....

I've been going through my first Dark Souls game...I just got to Anor Londo at SL50

I built my guy to be a sort of tank, I have him equipped with an Elite Knight Set +1 and his main weapons are the Black Knight Sword +2 and Black Knight Shield +2, with my ranged attack being a Pyromancy Flame +2 with Chaos Fireball.

My Stats are thus:

• Vitality: 21
  
• Attunement: 12
  
• Strength: 22
  
• Endurance: 26
  
• Dexterity: 16
  
• Intelligence: 12
  
• Faith: 8
  

For lack of a better term...am I doing this right...what can I do to improve?

I'd actually say you're more focused than most of these we get. It all depends on where you want to take it really. IMO there are better weapons than the BKS, but something that can't be said enough about this game is that it's all about what you're comfortable with. If you're doing well with the BKS and you like it, then continue to use it. Continuing to pump up your VIT and END will help you out. If you're using your pyro a lot a couple more attunement slots wouldn't hurt either, although are not entirely necessary. How you gear your stats is also pretty dependent on what kinds of weapons you want to use. Like if you're planning on sticking with STR scaling weapons than you could keep pumping up your STR until your damage plateaus.

Also if what you're literally trying to do is make a tank, there are much bigger stronger armors than the Elite Knight set. The Elite Knight set isn't a bad set by any means, it's arguably one of the best medium armor sets, but if what you're going for is maximum damage absorption then you could try some of the heavy sets, like Havel's set, or the Stone Knight set. They weigh a lot more but generally have higher defense stats. Beefing up your END, in combination with Havel's ring, will help you with that if it's what you want to do. Regardless of what you decide to use, as far along as you are you'd benefit from upgrading your armor a few more times.

PlasticandRage wrote:I'd actually say you're more focused than most of these we get. It all depends on where you want to take it really. IMO there are better weapons than the BKS, but something that can't be said enough about this game is that it's all about what you're comfortable with. If you're doing well with the BKS and you like it, then continue to use it. Continuing to pump up your VIT and END will help you out. If you're using your pyro a lot a couple more attunement slots wouldn't hurt either, although are not entirely necessary. How you gear your stats is also pretty dependent on what kinds of weapons you want to use. Like if you're planning on sticking with STR scaling weapons than you could keep pumping up your STR until your damage plateaus.

This^ plus upgrade your gear! Just dont use any slabs on gear till you find what you really like to use.

Maneater_Mildred wrote:

PlasticandRage wrote:I'd actually say you're more focused than most of these we get. It all depends on where you want to take it really. IMO there are better weapons than the BKS, but something that can't be said enough about this game is that it's all about what you're comfortable with. If you're doing well with the BKS and you like it, then continue to use it. Continuing to pump up your VIT and END will help you out. If you're using your pyro a lot a couple more attunement slots wouldn't hurt either, although are not entirely necessary. How you gear your stats is also pretty dependent on what kinds of weapons you want to use. Like if you're planning on sticking with STR scaling weapons than you could keep pumping up your STR until your damage plateaus.

This^ plus upgrade your gear! Just dont use any slabs on gear till you find what you really like to use.

Ninja edit. Ditto

Thanks for the replies.

I know there's better weapons then the BKS, just haven't gotten around to getting one yet, lol, and once I get it to +5 I think it'll be formidable.

Going for a Greatsword of Artorias....but I haven't gotten to Sif yet....and even when I get it, I'm going to need to boost my stats a bit to get anything decent out of it.

As for the armor, I should probably rephrase that, I'm going for something that puts out quite a bit of damage, but is still somewhat nimble, but still able to take a few hits....if that makes sense. Plus I love the look of it, and once upgraded holds up ok.

I'm currently looking for a Havel's Ring on the trading forum as I lost the ability to get one by dying simultaneously with the big oaf.

I'll try pouring some more points into Attunement, how many points do you need to open up a new slot?

Your BKS will be very useful in Demon Ruins. Try to get it to +5. As plastic said, raise your Vit and End and if you want to be a tank, more strength so that you can get a Greatshield (Greatshield of Artorias is very good). As you raise your Str you'll find that some large weapons scale pretty well with high str, so search the wiki and decide which high scaling weapon you like (I recommend Man serpent Greatsword, or a Giant/Large Club).

WyrmHero wrote:Your BKS will be very useful in Demon Ruins. Try to get it to +5. As plastic said, raise your Vit and End and if you want to be a tank, more strength so that you can get a Greatshield (Greatshield of Artorias is very good). As you raise your Str you'll find that some large weapons scale pretty well with high str, so search the wiki and decide which high scaling weapon you like (I recommend Man serpent Greatsword, or a Giant/Large Club).

A quick question, would you recommend the great shield of artorias over the great sword?

and another quick question, if I leave the Chaos Servants will I still have access to the Chaos Fireball.

Yes, you will still have access to the spell. And it really depends on what you want to do. The Great Sword requires some very specific stat growths in order to use, stat growths that in some cases may not be useful for anything else, while the shield I don't think requires any prereqs that wouldn't also apply to a high STR build. So basically when making that choice you have to decide if the GSword is exactly what you want to use, otherwise you may end up with a character that's not really well balanced to be anything else. I've never personally gone for the Great Sword because of its unusual stat requirements, but I've heard/read that it's an amazing weapon. Either way you'd be ending up with something good.

If you want a more nimble armor than medium sets like the elite armor set are actually fine.

What you will really need for good armor is to pick one and upgrade it fully. The thing about upgrading armor is that you want to choose a mix that will also grant you reasonable poise. Poise in my opinion is more important than defence rating.

The biggest issue with the sword is it needs so many levels in str/dex/int/fai to outpower other weapons that it's best suited for soul levels in the 200 range. Otherwise other weapons will be much more powerful. The r2 attack on the sword has a long windup too meaning the moveset can be difficult to utilize 100%. The shield is very very nice and only requires that you have the stats to hold it.

Buggy Virus wrote:If you want a more nimble armor than medium sets like the elite armor set are actually fine.

What you will really need for good armor is to pick one and upgrade it fully. The thing about upgrading armor is that you want to choose a mix that will also grant you reasonable poise. Poise in my opinion is more important than defence rating.

That's the other reason I chose the Elite Knight Armor is that it has decent poise, nothing is more annoying than getting stun locked by an enemy or a phantom. I actually just spent the day leveling up my armor, my chest is currently at +9 and everything else is at +5. I'm remembering advice that I should save my titanite slabs for my weapons.

My BKSword is +5 and my BKShield is +2 now as well. Really noticing a difference, I can two shot Taurus Demons now.