What's the difference between an Enchanted wpn and a Magic wpn? My STR is actually at 24 atm and INT at 30. From here on out I'm gonna be focusing more on the INT.

hmmmhh... i was just thinking, might it be worth writing a begginers guide, and/or a trophy guide that is exclusively posted on VGC? i guess the second makes notsomuch sense, since there are 'kinda' complete ones out there, but about the first?

Wow, is the site slow as hell or what?

Anyway, been PVP'ing a lot to level up (it's faster than farming for me). There are some pretty dickish moves that Forest Invaders pull (so far I've been fighting mostly Forest Hunters at my level or slightly below it, given the soul count they drop). I've had 3-1 gang ups with Tranquil Walk of Peace and Crystal Ring Shield spammers (that was a quick death for me), I've had 2-1 Pyro spammers, I've had Fog users as far as the eye can see (Lol), I've seen it all.

Heck, I was invaded by a Darkwraith when I was fighting two Crystal Soul Spear spammers and the guy helped me defeating them and we had an one on one fight (we bowed an all) which was epic. Ended up winning it, but the guy sent me a message saying that he hates cowards on the forest like the other two guys and he hoped to invade me again for another good match.

Had another one just now, with another coward that used all his stock of sorceries (Homing Soulmass, Homing Crystal Soulmass, Crystal Soul Spear, Strong Magic Shield) and Miracles (Emit Force, Force, Wrath of the Gods, Heal, Tranquil Walk of Peace), all the trees in the forest, 3 more invading companions and the bastard still went down. Pretty satisfying I must add.

Main difference is scalability. Magic Weapons scale less with Int than Enchanted ones, the Murakumo for example, has a bit higher stats at Magic +10 (about 15 more Attack and 18 more Magic Attack) but only scales C for Int with STR and DEX being E. 

@CrystalChild - That would be a pretty good idea actually. A lot of people would benefit from that, especially users that come into the game much late than we did.

I thought I messed up at the end then. I went down to the abyss to speak to kaathe but before I spoke to him I got curious of what would happen if I attacked him, so I did. He told me I can't be the lord and then just went into the black grounds of the abyss. I wondered how the hell I was now goin to get to the LordVessel to put the remaining souls in. I went up to where frampt was to see if maybe he as came back but he didn't. I didn't have a clue how I could get to the LordVessel. In the end I just jumped down the hole where Frampt went into and it worked I fell in the LordVessel area! :)

Anyways I think I got the bad ending by accident, I beat lord Gywn and I didn't realize that if I walked back outside it triggered the bad ending!! I suppose it gives me a reason to complete it again!

Well people, help me out. Those are the very basic's i would stash into my beginners guide, later followed by a guide for the first 2 Area's (Asylum and Undead's), aswell as Merchant Locations, and Weapon (Requirement) explanation.

Advice's appreciated!

Edit: There are a lot of Caps mistakes in there, but those arent random, i've just written all that stuff without thinking about in which language i am writing there, since, in german, 'Mainwords' are having capitalized letter's. (And even then, the cap's are mostly wrong since i normally dont care about right spelling on teh internetz. ;P Of course, it'll be fixed by the time the Guide is complete. sorry!)

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Crystalchilds Beginners Guide to: Dark Souls

Hey,

If you are one of those Guys’ (or Gal’s) that thought about picking up Dark Souls, this little Guide might be for you, if you prefer to make some progress, instead of getting your humble backside handed to you when you first visit the cold, yet beautiful places that the Lands of Lordran have to offer.

So, let’s get started!

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Character Creation:

The first thing to do is to choose your Class. Every Class has its advantages and disadvantages. In a long Shot, it doesn’t matter which Class you’ve picked, since you can get the Spells, and increase the Stats you want how you want them. However, since this is the ‘Beginners Guide’, lets explain what the Single classes have to offer, and which one might be yours.

WARRIOR – The Warrior Starts with high Strength and Dexterity, while Vitality and Endurance are on an Average Level. Faith and Intelligence are stats seriously lacking.  He has no real advantage, but start’s with quite acceptable, mid-heavy Gear, and a Longsword which has quite a good Range.

KNIGHT – The Knight is, much like the Warrior, very Melee-based. But instead of having great Strength and Dexterity, he  starts with higher Vitality and Resistance. On top, he wears quite heavy Armor, which may allow you to survive a mistake or two. But be careful, the heavy gear is making the Knight a less agile fellow then the warrior, leading to be an easier-to-hit target for your enemies. He is the typical tank – built to be hit, and actually survive a few of them. (Which, however,  wont save you from One-Shot attacks of certain Enemies)

WANDERER – The Wanderer is the more Agile Fighter. He wear’s lighter Equipment than the Warrior, wields a curved Short sword, and starts with 14  Dexterity, which fit’s his kind of weapon and would be (theoretically, he doesn’t start with one) able to use a Shortbow right from the Start. While Resistance Intelligence and Attunement are a bit above average, Stats like Vitality, Endurance and Strength are quite the weakspots with ‘just’ 10 points. Faith is only on 8, which would lead to an greater investment into that stat, before you would be able to perform the basic healing miracle.

THIEF – While the Thief lacks Defensive stats (Vitality, Endurance, Resistance), he makes up for it with the highest Dexterity stat of all classes, being 15. Intelligence, Faith and Attunement are above average, making it easy to peform basic spells once you’ve bought them. The Weapon he wields is the weakest for Open Combat, but the critical Strikes* dealt with Daggers are higher as they would be with every else weapon. Worth Mentioning; The thief will get (in addition to whatever gift you choose, making a total of 2 gifts) a Free Masterkey!

BANDIT – If you’re looking for the Melee-based Character with the best stats for Close Combat with heavier weapons, go no further. The Bandit has light Armor, making him very agile – but surely not fragile Character. He starts with very high Vitality/Strength/Endurance Numbers,making him – statswise – a very good fighter.  The Disadvantage he has to .. well.. make up for his good Physical Stats, are pretty weak Dexterity and Intelligence, leading to a small investment into those stats before being able to hold a bow, or using Magic.

HUNTER – Last but lot least in the lines of the more physical based Characters, is the Hunter. The reason to chose him over the others is a high Dexterity Stat (14, that is), aswell as a Free Bow at the very beginning! (The Bow is worth a thousand souls, the 30 Arrows are another 300.) in addition, he has, of course, a Short Sword and a Shield. He is a very Balanced Character,  having no Stat below 8, and having everything related to Physical attributes (except for strength, which is at 12) at an solid 11.  To be fairly honest, the thousand souls required for a Bow, are not too much, even at the beginning, but if you want one, you can invest into Soul Levels right away.

SORCERER – The Sorc is a very fragile character, having only light Armor, a Dagger, and Physical Stats below average. However, he makes up for the lack of Close Combat capabilities by having 15 Attunement and Intelligence, aswell as the Soul Arrow Spell (Which has 30 Charges, each worth 1,5x the Damage of a Hit dealt with his Dagger) right from the Start, making him a very capable Caster.

PYROMANCER – The Most used Class, by afar. And that not without a Reason. While being labled as a Character that Is able to Cast Pyromancies from the start, he also has a solid Weapon (Short Axe), aswell as good Melee Stats. So yeah, he could be labled ‘The Hybrid’ out of the available classes, being well capable of Melee Damage, while also having the opportunity of using his Fireball (only 8 Charges, which is a poor amount compared to the 30 Soul arrow has, however, the Fireball is Stronger and can hit Multiple Enemies if they are close enough to each other.) The Disadvantages however shouldn’t be ingored, since his Points in Dexterity (Again, good for using a bow or swift weapons), Intelligence (For use of Magic. Magic =/=Pyromancies!) and Faith (Miracles) are below average, an investment into those stats will lead you to a little investment of Souls into those stats, if you intend to change your playstyle. In addition, the Shield given to a Pyromancer is one of the weakest, only blocking 60-65% of Physical damage.

CLERIC – Clerics are (I guess) the most underestimated fellows in Dark Souls. They lack of Dexterity, Endurance and Intelligence, but they make up for it by starting with acceptable Vitality, Strength, Resistance, and a whopping 15 Points in Faith. The biggest plus however, is that he has the very first Healing Miracle (aswell as the required weapon, a Talisman, of course) right from the start, saving 5000 (!) Souls that they would cost combined, if you want to have an additional way to keep your Avatar alive.  He starts with light Equip, a Mace, and a decent shield.

DEPRIVED – Do you know the Guys only wearing a T-Shirt and Shorts outside when it is cold enough outside to freeze your pee in midair while taking a piss?  I don’t, but if you are one of these, the Deprived might be your pick, as they come without any Armor, only armed with a Plank that is mistaken to be a weapon, and a Wooden Shield. The thing that makes this class so interesting, is that you take a huge disadvantage, being the favourite pick for those who are familiar with The Souls Series, or the guy’s stated above. Another, actually valid reason to pick them is that they start with every stat at a solid  11, making it easy to adapt to every playstyle. For example, being able to use a bow, cast the healing miracle, or Soul Arrow, only costs a single Soul level into those stats, of course excluding the Weapon and Spell that you have to purchase in addition.

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GIFTS

My advice: Master Key, period. (if youre not a Thief that is)  However, let me explain the others properly.

Master Key: Enable’s you to open locked doors that dont require a special key.

Divine Blessing (1x): it will heal any Status ailment as well as your HP completely, once. (This includes ‘Curse’, saving you 4000-6000 Souls, depending on the Vendor – if you were cursed, that is.) – can be found several times.

Black Firebomb: The stronger version of the common firebomb. This would enable you to kill the very First boss, when you actually were supposed to run away from him.  (You can kill him also with bare hands, since you will obtain your weapons AFTER this encounter.  But the chances of succeeding are.. quite low, especially if you are new to the game.) those can also be an ‘Oh shit!’ Button in your very first minutes after your arrival in Lordran, however, you’ll only get 10, and you can Buy, aswell as find them later in the game.

Binoculars: Makes little to no Sense. You can get them later in the Game, and the distance you can look into isn’t worth mentioning either.

Pendant: Can be found later in the game. It is a sidestory related item, with no use in combat.

Twin Humanities: Can be found in the game. Grants you 2 Humanity Points.

Tiny Beings Ring: increases your Health by 30. (Someone has to confirm the number.) … well, what can I say.. I wouldn’t recommend this pick, since you can get it later in the game, and the number of Health points granted while wearing isn’t worth mentioning except for your very first minutes in the game.

Old Witch’s Ring: Interesting Item, but also obtainable later in the game. (Though it’s harder to get compared to the others) It enable’s you to speak to certain persons. Without, those special beings will only response with an ‘?’.

Combat Basics:

While the usage of your Controller and the typical button layout is explained to you in the game, some things remain unclear, or should be getting more attention.

Backstab: One of the most important moves in the game while fighting enemy’s around your size, period.  To deliver this fatal blow, you have to be facing the backside of your enemy, which can be easily reached by Circle Strafing your enemy. Note that you can’t do backstabs while holding your shield up!

Circle Strafing: while having your Enemy locked on, just run around him. Yes, this is it, running around him while facing towards him. (Backstabs are able to be done without, but it makes it more safe, since, while facing him, blocking his attacks I easier.)

Lock-On! : to lock onto your enemy, just press R3 or the Xbox equivalent. (Push down the right Analog-Stick) while this is made clear in the game, changing targets ISNT. To do this, flick the right stick to your left or right, depending on where your wanted target stands. DO NOT HOLD the stick into this direction, release it immediately after pushing in any direction.)

Parry/Counter: Parrying an attack is a more difficult task then backstabbing, the advantage of using it is that you can counter attacks and make them meaningless. To perform a counter attack, Push LT/L2 shortly before the enemy would hit you. He will be stunned for a short period of time if you did it right (otherwise he’ll hit you), and when that happens, push RB/R1.

Kick: To perform a kick, push the left stick into the direction you are facing, while pushing RB/R1. Since From Software is relentless, there must not be just a very slight delay between Stick and Button, so being able to Kick properly, you might want to practice it for a minute or two. With a kick, you can break the guard of an Enemy. It won’t be working every time you kicked, but the chance that your enemy will be stunned and thrown out of his guard is well above 90%.

Critical Strikes: While Counters and Backstab’s do count as critical strikes (as they will be exponentially stronger with a dagger in comparison to his ordinary hits, when compared to other Weapons), there is another way to deal more damage with your weapon than you would do normally. When your Enemy is starting an Attack (or immediately AFTER his attack), there will be a very short window of time, in which you have a chance to deal 150% of the damage you would deal normally.  It isn’t recommended (except MAYBE for Daggers, since they’ll do more than 150%) to aim for those strikes all the time, but if they happen, they happen. And if the situation allows it, why not?

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Not sure about the green titanite but to change your upgrade path (if you've found you can no longer upgrade item using "reinforce weapon") you need to use the "modify weapon" option at the smiths.  You can chose upgrade paths there (assuming that you've given the proper embers)

hmmmm I placed the lordvessel in it's place, and now it seems I have to kill powerful souls. Any ideas in which order I should tackle them?

EDIT: I think I should tackle the first archdemon where the Ceaseless Discharge was, since I can teleport there and would reduce the amount of frustruation by half. Good or bad idea?

Well, the bosses themselves are easy (except maybe for the Four Kings, but it only requires strategy more than anything else). I'll order them by difficulty of their respective area/location. 

Lost Izalith(Bed of Chaos) > Dukes Archives (Seath the Scaleless) > New Londo (Four Kings) > Tomb of Giants (Nito). 

Bed of Chaos is probably the easiest boss in the entire game and Nito isn't that much harder, but the location of Nito is probably the most annoying&hard since it's pitch dark (Cast Light or the Lantern makes things easier to see, but not by much). 

Four Kings are the toughest of the bunch, especially if you're not a Tank&Melee or Sorcery build.

Edit - That's a good idea, since that's precisely the path leading to Lost Izalith.

Also, sorry for the late reply Crystal. Your guide is pretty good and spot on and I wouldn't change anything in it, since that's basically the information needed for any beginner. Critical Strikes shouldn't be attempted by beginners at all, heck even seasoned Souls players have difficulty pulling them off reasonably.