TLDR: my warrior fully upgraded their main weapon and now face a deficit of titanite chunks to upgrade other weapons, severely limiting my build in time when mages gain several new awesome spells as well as resources to upgrade their pyromancy flame and catalyst.

I’m replaying Dark Souls 2 (SotFS) after years of not touching the game and generally not spending much time with Souls-likes. I went for a warrior type, focusing on swords and crossbows. Despite not having access to any magic, I have a blast!

Yet, once the early game full of experimentations with weapons and drip fashion reached its’ end and I settled on a claymore +10 and a pretty looking “armor” set, my build became stale. I used up my titanite chunks on the claymore and I can’t gain more since the useless ore merchant can’t sell shit until you are 2 bosses away from winning. I have murakumo +7 and I switch to it sometimes but it’s hard to compete with a fully upgraded claymore.

The game throws twinkling titanite to me and I would love to use it on some cool weapon… but there are none! The only special weapon that could fit this build, Drangleic greatsword, is just worse than my claymore in terms of reach and moveset. Maybe it has a bit more damage when it’s fully upgraded but I’d still prefer the more convenient option.

Now, there are also boss weapons. Again, there’s only one that actually interests me - the flexile sentinel’s curved greatsword. It’s pretty similar to my murakumo except it weighs more and… that’s it? Stat scaling is a bit different but moveset seems identical. It looks cool though. But I dunno if it’s worth the investment. Are there other interesting boss weapons worth waiting for? I don’t really want to grind for petrified bones…

It’s especially aggravating because, when a mage reaches Drangleic castle, they get such a huge upgrade. Great combustion, several fire seeds, Soul greatsword, Firestorm, twinkling titanite for the best catalyst… it’s arguably the best part of the game for casters.

  • Lucy [she/faer]@piefed.blahaj.zoneOPEnglish
    2·
    2 days ago

    Because I am the kind of wizard that will find the most efficient mana-per-damage spell in my arsenal and sling that almost exclusively.

    I can’t remember many RPGs where this is discouraged. Only the first two Dark Souls games but the first DS doesn’t have enough spells for it to actually change things so DS2 ends up being the only such game.

    I also learned today for the first time ever that you can dual wield powerstance a pair of crossbows.

    There’s actually one scripted invader in Tseldora who dual wields two avelyns. In a hell of a place too.

    a mediocre katana is still head and shoulders above most other weapons.

    I’m not a huge fan of katanas because of their annoying diagonal attacks that miss small/moving targets a lot. I much prefer wide horizontal swings combined with either a thrust or a top-down crush as a strong attack.

    I believe she upgrades one more time to unlimited chunks after you beat Watcher and Defender. Now that you have the King’s Ring in your pocket I think you can go fight them right now and just get that out of the way.

    That will be my next target then!

    Aldia’s Keep is behind me now and the Crypt is cleared of its treasures. Souls of Gwyn and Nito are also on me but the other two proved to be a bit harder (Freya mostly thanks to the runback to it; the boss’s easy). I also ascended the Crypt bonfire as I want to get the best royal soldier ring. Almost killed Velstadt and then he one-shotted me with a lucky move. Twin Pursuers is another of my NG+ goals but that will be really hard haha.

    • skulblaka@sh.itjust.works
      2·
      1 day ago

      Twin Pursuers… That was a fight that I did once, just to prove that I could, and I think I completely skipped past it every time after that. I have never found myself in dire enough need of an extra 15 AR to put myself through that again, lmao. It’s amazing the difficulty spike you get with two Pursuers versus one. Solo, they’re some of the easiest proper boss fights in the game. Duo, they’ll slap your shit silly.

      scripted invader in Tseldora

      Oh, I know you can dual wield them, I didn’t realize you could powerstance them. There is a difference. You can dual wield two of anything, but if you want to stance them, there are some conditions. Wield two of the same class of weapons and have 1.5x the required stats, and hold down your 2H swap button. You’ll get a unique paired moveset.

      Again, it totally makes sense that you would be able to do this with crossbows, I just never thought to try. You can’t do it with bows or magic staves, so it just never crossed my mind that it could be a possibility.

      I’m not a huge fan of katanas

      Very fair and valid. The game has two dozen weapon types to choose from for just such a reason.

      I much prefer wide horizontal swings combined with either a thrust or a top-down crush as a strong attack.

      I once again recommend that you check into the Crypt Blacksword, if that’s what you like. I know you’re not big on two-handing your weapons this run, so maybe next time. But CBS’ two hand moveset is exactly that, and one hand is also quite good for an Ultra weapon. It stays one of my top 5 pieces of gear in the game, I love it dearly.