Tips/hints for starting off with Knight Class, want to Tank this time around..

I am wanting to start a new game/character and have him tank his way around the game using the best/heaviest armor etc etc as well as using Miracles which I have never really delved into that much..

Any good tips/runs that will be a good idea at the start for this character? good leveling up tips to use Miracles etc and weapons which will be good...

I will do:

• quick run for the Firekeeper soul in New Londo
  
• quick run for Dragoncrest shield Valley of Drakes
  
• not going to do Crimson Armour run this time!
  
• all the treasure boxes below the lifts in Firelink, maybe a few things from graveyard as well...
  

thanks...

Do a Havel cospay! Other than that Havel/Giants is the heavist and best armour around, but dont overlook the black iron set. Greatshields, especially the eagle shield in btown, will help you tank. For miracles 30 fth is a good place to be, and you'd want to hit that around SL 80 imo. The dragoncrest shield is a good starting shield and its always good to do some suicide runs for items right at the start of the game. Try out the weapons you didnt use last time. You're still PvE only right? Then you can afford to splash out on all your stats and use a UGS or great hammer to complete the super heavy knight feel.

yeah still all PVE mate That is the plan, want to try out different weapons, still had not got a few weapons from my first character over 2 NG's as well...

Stone Greatsword did really nice damage after being upgraded to! Like the move set so might try and get that! Going to be a Holy Knight, sort of like Solaire.. but better!

yeah dont like Havel's gear that much.. Golem is crap as well.. hmmm..

shot for the advice..

what are good spells to use/buy/find

Never used the stone GS lol, so dont know whats its like but if it scales with fth then it will be good. Golem is horrible, and Havel's is good for hat it does, but I prefer my black iron

WoG is great. Force can be useful, I know fed now uses it as a shield. GMB and MB are too situational for PvE even. Karmic justice might work for PvE, but not bosses. Emit force can be used well by aiming it at the enemies feet. The lightning spears tear up in PvE cause enemies dont dodge. Vow of silence is useless. And thats about all I can remember.

Iron Tarkus Cosplay should do the trick...
Get SLB and buff it on your Greatsword when needed...
Emit and Great Lightning Spear are great for pve...
Keep ATT to 14. 3 slots are enough for 30 faith

Something like this at SL100...

http://tinyurl.com/bpfcrz5

Cheers!

Buffs! How did I forget buffs. Buffs are 100% better than fth or occult weapons. I would suggest keeping one as backup, for when you cant use the buff and when you dont want the +15, but it will still be weaker than the +15 weapon until 50fth. Just make sure your +15 wep and fth wep are different classes for variety.

Post deletion? Interesting

Dont go for split scaling... ur better off with pure strgth scaling if your going for a UGS... Check out the build I posted.. You will get around 500+ physical AR which is better than having it split...
And you should keep a buff attuned when needed

DoughGuy wrote:Post deletion? Interesting

I had a blonde moment Attunenment vs Faith.. lol! went blank! Dont mind me.. playing Fm12 at the moment too

ok cool! will use buffs, Cleric or Knight to start off with?? I dont want to be a faith build, more STR/END/VIT etc.. with a bit of Miracles..

plus Knights starting gear is cooler..

thank you for all the help.. struggling to determine all the acronyms for miracles though.. maybe type them out in full? thanks

lol sorry. WoG is Wrath of the Gods and GMB is Greater magic barrier.
UGS is ultra greatsword.

I would start as cleric. If you are getting the dragoncrest shield pick up the astoran straight sword. Cleric takes like 2 SLs to use it and its amazing early game.

Yeah go with cleric if you want a strgth / faith tank build...
Will save you a point to lvl up

Awesome

http://mugenmonkey.com/darksouls/?c=1837246566776838

something like that then early on? two into dex to use Astoran sword, one into attunement for extra slot, a couple to Str/Vit/End

any armor you can recommend early on in the game besides this that the Cleric starts with? Except the Crimson set?

Cleric set is really good
Attune Force too

ok sweeeet I never attuned Miracles, well one I listed Force as well but took down attunement a bit and lost them

seems like you dont start with head gear as Cleric, is that correct?

any recommended rings for FAITH/STR builds?

something like this? http://tinyurl.com/d24c378 you can always switch to DGM and buff it.

RantFromRant wrote:something like this? http://tinyurl.com/d24c378 you can always switch to DGM and buff it.

Cheers, thats for NG+, I know what to do for NG+ etc. I want tips for early on
what is DGM? brain not working today...

thank you

demon great machete, its my favorite weapon in the game. what about this for ng http://tinyurl.com/cmnzqmm ? try to get 27 str and just keep it there for a while untill you level up end or whatever you wanna level first and two hand your weapon since two haning your weapons withe 27 is pretty much the same as having 40 str.

Here, in depth, is how I would do it for just PvE:


1) Start as Cleric. Get Master Key as your gift.
2) Get Astora's Sword (Dragoncrest Shield too if you want). Get Havel's Ring in Undead Burg. Be human, be patient, summon someone with advanced Gear to kill Havel for you. (Cheap, but that ring is so good early on for a tank build).
3) Leave your Faith at 12 for a good portion of the game. Heal is good enough. Focus on STR, bit of dex, END, and a bit of VIT.
4) Early on, level up Str to 25 (if you plan on using a 2H weapon), dex to maybe 12 so you can use a bow. Bows are great in PvE to pull enemies, in Blighttown for mosquitoes, lots of uses.
5) No need for the New Londo firekeeper soul IMO.
6) Grab the Claymore or Bastard Sword.
7) Once you have something you can survive the forest, run in there to get the Wolf Ring and Elite Knight set. Now you can go to town as a Tank!
8) Keep levelling up VIT/END/STR/DEX. 12 Faith is just fine until you're a higher level (70? Wherever you feel comfortable, but with 34 STR, 28END, 32 VIT, and high level gear I was killing lvl 100+ in PvP with a Bastard Sword or Great Sword). I tried making a holy knight and pushing faith early and it just didn't work.
9) Help kill the Gargoyles a few times, level up your armour/weapon, push into the Depths. You could also make a run for the Stone Armour if you're feeling brave. I was afraid of killing Pharis so I didn't bother.
10) Once you get your weapon to +10 and your armour decent, you can try going for the Stone Armour. Getting this armour early will really help a tank build, but Elite Knight armour/wolf ring are definitely good enough. You could also make a Suicide run for the stone armour if you know where it is. Might need some stamina boosters/ring of sacrifice.

At this point you should have gear enough to beat the game. Eagle shield is awesome for tanking, grab it in Blighttown. Heavy tank armour is Havels, Stone, Black Iron, Smoughs, Giant... whatever suits your fancy. I love Black Iron + Greatsword, but that's just me.

If you keep your dex low, either at 12 or by not levelling it up at all, you could go for 50STR/30 Faith and use Havel's shield and Grant. But without doing any PvP might be hard to acquire that many souls.

Grant/Havel's shield is a more focused build, so if you're just messing around PvE then honestly I would stop at 27 STR, and get my END to around 30, my dex around 20-30, vit about 30, then push Faith. I'd use a Bastardsword or Greatsword, Composite bow, Eagle Shield, and some kind of Talisman as my equips. I tried the Demon Machete and it wasn't for me; it is very good, I just hate the way it looks.

IV_Mark_VI wrote:Here, in depth, is how I would do it for just PvE:


1) Start as Cleric. Get Master Key as your gift.
2) Get Astora's Sword (Dragoncrest Shield too if you want). Get Havel's Ring in Undead Burg. Be human, be patient, summon someone with advanced Gear to kill Havel for you. (Cheap, but that ring is so good early on for a tank build).
3) Leave your Faith at 12 for a good portion of the game. Heal is good enough. Focus on STR, bit of dex, END, and a bit of VIT.
4) Early on, level up Str to 25 (if you plan on using a 2H weapon), dex to maybe 12 so you can use a bow. Bows are great in PvE to pull enemies, in Blighttown for mosquitoes, lots of uses.
5) No need for the New Londo firekeeper soul IMO.
6) Grab the Claymore or Bastard Sword.
7) Once you have something you can survive the forest, run in there to get the Wolf Ring and Elite Knight set. Now you can go to town as a Tank!
8) Keep levelling up VIT/END/STR/DEX. 12 Faith is just fine until you're a higher level (70? Wherever you feel comfortable, but with 34 STR, 28END, 32 VIT, and high level gear I was killing lvl 100+ in PvP with a Bastard Sword or Great Sword). I tried making a holy knight and pushing faith early and it just didn't work.
9) Help kill the Gargoyles a few times, level up your armour/weapon, push into the Depths. You could also make a run for the Stone Armour if you're feeling brave. I was afraid of killing Pharis so I didn't bother.
10) Once you get your weapon to +10 and your armour decent, you can try going for the Stone Armour. Getting this armour early will really help a tank build, but Elite Knight armour/wolf ring are definitely good enough. You could also make a Suicide run for the stone armour if you know where it is. Might need some stamina boosters/ring of sacrifice.
.........

I agree with this except that i think you should easily kill havel on your own (especially with an early astora sword) and get the firekeepers soul in new londo instead of waiting for someone.
Also you can get the stone armor set without any fear... its a 1minute run from andre (if you have the crest) and you can skip every enemy.

I would also recommend to get the grass crest shield early on.. its basicly 30sec away from the astora sword and you could then go straight to the stone armor set afterwards.

So:
- get the astora sword + dragon crest shield + soul from undead dragon
- run past him and the other 2 drakes and take lift to the cave in darkroot
- run out of the cave, down to the green crest shield and optionally kill the black knight
- run all the way up (the way above the cave), get the titanite lizzard (2twinkling titanites) on the way up
- if you have 20000 souls buy the crest and get stone armor (and some easy souls form the forrest covenant NPCs)

How do you run for the Stone Armour? Do you run right through the other NPCs? I didn't know you could run around the Undead Dragon after waking it... never tried it though.

And how do you grab all 3 things from the undead Dragon? Just run in, grab it, and die?

after opening the gate in darkroot, just sprint on the left side to the cat of the forrest covenant, then walk over the little bridge, stairs down and its around the corner.
You can grab the soul without aggroing the undead dragon, not sure if you have to wake him up, but even if he wakes up, just take the items and roll forward. Even if you die once, its still worth it