I seen Fighting Cowboy had a lot of trouble with that last boss… the guy on the Phoenix dragon thing that’s in the trailers? Is that were you are at?
Hahaha… well I guess I’m NOT at the final boss if that’s true. That actually makes some sense now that I consider what the boss I’m fighting is all about.
Man, this game keeps on giving.
Well I dont even know if thats the final boss, I just know Cowboy was stuck there and couldnt beat the 2nd stage of him. He looks like a final boss to me…if thats not the final boss than I hate to see the real final boss geez!!!
Between KI S3, Bloodborne + old hunters, DS3 + Season pass, and finishing up with Lords of the Fallen. I may not finish these games till next year lol!!!
My fiancee is gonna leave me when its all said and done lol…nah… she enjoys watching me play Bloodborne and Darksouls… KI as well… SHE cant stand watching MK X though.
I picked a Herald class and I’m past the first (minor) boss. I’m now stubbornly doing something which keeps getting me killed lol.
What class should I pick? A Knight is supposed to be best for beginners…but I like the stat layout for Assassin. Warrior seems to strong at first and the one between warrior and Knight looks good too.
In DS1 and DS2 I picked Warrior.
I never know who to pick!!!
I used Milquetoast for Bloodborne… Im a bad MOFOh in Bloodborne now! Im level 29 and have a ton of gem stones in my weapons. Ill take on anything that standing my way with my Full leveled up Saw blade!!!
I’m looking for a suggestion for my starting class.
I just watched some character creation videos on YouTube and an deciding between Thief, Sorcerer, or Pyromancer. I generally like classes that use a lot of magic, but I’m not sure how effective spells are in this game. Does the Sorcerer class focus on spells more often then their hand held weapon? I guess the only reason I have Thief in there, is I like using Bows but again, I don’t know effective bows are in this game.
Also, what are the differences between spells and miracles?
To those playing for the first time, keep in mind that your starting class only really decides your starting gear and initial playstyle. You will level up and choose gear freely in the main part of the game, so you can take a hybrid route or change completely over time if you want to.
Pyromancies are pretty much all out attack spells. Controlled by a mix of Intelligwnce and Faith.
Sorceries are a mix of attack/buff/support spells. Controlled by Intelligence.
Prayers/Miracles are mostly healing and support type spells, but usually there are at least a couple attack ones, too. Controlled by Faith.
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Thanks! You answered a lot of my questions, some of which I didn’t even ask yet.
It sounds like Pyromancer may be my starting point of choice.
Skeletal can tell you better than I can…but he is right… you choose how you want to start off…but as you go it all end ups being the same as everyone gets the same weapons and spells ect… just depending on how you spend your level up points.
Knight is good for beginners becasue of the high Heath and armor. Ive heard that pyromancer can be considered cheap becasue they can stand back from afar and just spam projectiles from there staff.
Its a tough decision and it will drive you crazy… I recommend Fighting Cowboy and Vitavetal or what ever his name is on youtube, they can lead you in the right direction if you have the patience to find the correct videos and information.
A major difference with the spell casting schools is how you make them better (i.e. do more damage)
Pyromancy damage scales with the pyromancy hand bonus, so your INT and WIS stats are only really important for the minimum requirements to equip the spell in the first place. You don’t need more than the minimum stats to do good damage - you upgrade your pyromancy hand in order to do more damage.
Sorcery and Miracle effects are driven by their respective INT and WIS stats, and generally damage scales with those stats, so for those you increase the stats rather than the staff/charm in order to do more damage.
Pyromancy works different this time around in that you need both WIS and INT to equip the spells. This means that if you create a true late-game pyromancer, you’ve essentially created a triple-class spellcaster, as some of the later Pyromancies require crazy-high INT and WIS to cast them, especially the dark ones.
I have a secondary character that’s a pyromancer, but because of the high requirements on both casting stats, I also carry a staff and a charm, so I can triple-cast everything. Later in the game, there’s combo staff/charms so it reduces the gear swapping you have to do in order to use all three effectively.
All casters put insane reliance on your attunement stat for slots and FP. Hope you know how to roll, because you’re likely not spending points on health, carry weight, and endurance!
I always start Knight (STR build) or Thief (DEX build, and bow) when I first play a Souls game. I then make a Pyromancer / Caster for my 2nd run.
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LOL…IM not sure if you informed @KrizmKazm or scared him away from the game !
That was some deep sheet! lol
I agree…start out as a knight to get the feel of the stats and how to read them…becasue at first its really hard to understand. I still dont fully understand Dark Souls as I have yet to complete a DS game…currently I’m just at the beginnings of DS1 and DS2.
Now Bloodborne I pretty much understand all the stats and how it all works…so DS3 is going to still be a huge challenge for me to wrap my head around…especially after reading what Adam just said!
No it all made sense 
I have a very rich background in World of Warcraft, so I understand stat priority between classes and all that. Knowing that the choice of class isn’t super critical at the beginning, since everyone kinda ends up the same anyway, is enough for me to not stress the decision too much.
It’s not so much that you will end up the same, but you will be able to level in whatever way you want to, so you won’t be stuck in a particular playstyle you chose to start with.
Well it blew my mind lol
What’s important to take away is that you will want to specialize. Making a jack of all trades is a good way to get killed in the Souls games, as you can’t take advantage of weapon / spell scaling if you don’t emphasize something over something else.
For a melee character, you will generally choose from a STR or DEX build with either dodging or tanking as the emphasis (meaning do you spend on END or VIT) for that character.
For a caster, it’s all about ATT for FP and slots, and then INT or WIS depending on caster type. With leftovers, you decide if you want armor or melee weapon, or if HP is important to you more than endurance.
Weight is a big, big deal in Souls III, more than it was in previous souls games. I had to get my VIT to 20 (10 points from Thief’s start stat) just to carry two lighter weapons, wear leather armor, and stay out of “fat” rolling. That’s significant, considering it was easy to carry several before plus shield and bow and whatever else.
Interestingly, I have yet to find any A or S class DEX scaling weapons in the game (even after sharpening a dex weapon), which disappoints me greatly. I find I’m adding more STR now than DEX because my weapons scale more per-point with increasing the lower stat (remember, there’s diminishing returns after 40 or so in a stat vs. value)
Can you tell I know this series well? Yeah. Maybe because I started in the industry making RPGs. =) Hard to get away from mechanics discussions.
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Man all of this is soooo interesting but hard to understand at the same time! So I see Fighting Cowboy making videos called " Dex build". I havent quite understood what that means yet.
Being I haven’t really played a Souls game longer than an hour or 2…but I am at the end of Lords of the Fallen and understand that game very well… and Im Level 31 on Bloodborne and kicking some asss there…
What should I start off as on DS3? And whats your best advice for me starting out and building a character that’s not too confusing from the start? I will figure out the rest as I get a ways into the game… but for now I have no clue how to start my character tonight when I begin.
I used Milquetoast on Bloodborne and have leveled up Endurance, skill and strength the most with Arcane rounding off for good Discovery.
DEX build means you’re concentrating on weapons that use DEX for equipping and damage scaling. Typically these are faster weapons and more poke-oriented than “one big hit” that STR weapons bring. Many you can use with a shield up, too.
TBH, start with a Knight. They’re straightforwards and have good armor on so you can take a few hits. Take the fire gem as a starting gift. You can use it to turn your sword into a fire longsword at the smith early (once you get the fire ember), and it’s a good weapon throughout most of the game.
Here’s the quick basics:
- Dark souls is essentially a fighting game; every attack has windup, active frames, and recovery; you have invulnerable frames on the start of your dodge; you must manage meter or you’re dead. Play it like one, not like a button-masher.
- Every monster and creature in the game uses the same stamina and magic bar system as the player – you just don’t see them. This means monsters can over-exert just like players and need to recover before attacking again.
- Backpack is unlimited weight, but if you go above 70% equip ratio with equipped armor, rings, weapons and shields / secondaries, you’ll have “fat” roll, in which you won’t dodge as fast or as far. This slows down as you increase load until you go over 100% at which point you can’t dodge at all. That’s really bad.
- You’ll see letters next to some weapons on their stat requirements. The letter is the bonus per-point you get to damage for going over the base required stat. From worst to best bonus it’s E-D-C-B-A-S. S scaling weapons are the bees knees.
- Almost every monster can be backstabbed. Try to circle and get behind things when they are in recovery frames.
- Learn to parry. Parry deflects attacks and allows a “front-stab” that does massive damage, similar to BB’s interrupts.
- Dodge late. You’re invulnerable for a number of frames when you start dodging. You’re not on the recovery of the dodge though!
- While undocumented, there’s an insane D&D resistance and weakness system in this game. Blunt crushing weapons do extra damage to skeletons, for example. Experiment against different monsters with weapon types and infusions (fire, poison, bleed, lighting, dark, magic, frost, etc.) to find a good combination.
Be prepared to play for 10+ hours before this all makes total sense and you start over and play it “better”. It’s all part of the discovery of the game’s nuances.
Requires a commitment, but very rewarding… just like KI! =)
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Great advice. Not only playing the game itself but which build to go for is always a big question for me.
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Worked my way past a few bosses today; not bad for Day One!
I started as a Herald class, and have been leveling Vigor, Strength, Dexterity and either Vitality or Endurance fairly evenly, with a point or two in Faith. It’s nice to have my tank-style build with the added Miracles support early game rather than late-game. Right now I’m geared out in heavy armor (just found a cool new set) with a 100% physical reduction shield and a fire greatsword. I’m pretty happy with how things are going so far, but I also know there will be areas I need to check more thoroughly once I go back to them.
I wanted to share the following clip; it’s just a perfectly timed dodge which happened totally by accident, so don’t worry about spoiling anything. I had no idea that enemy was there, I had missed a doorway completely.
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Man, your posts and information REALLY want me to get this game.
Is it the best in the series? I’ve beaten DS1, and played DS2, so I wanted to know the Changes in DS3, before committing to a purchase.
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