Dark Souls II

calex71

J. Marston wrote: »

Fúck the Ancient Dragon.

One hit kill bullshít.

I think that was one of the few times the game got cheap and I felt hard done by, there is a strategy and it works but by god I was never able to get entering the area and getting safe down consistently. The amount of times I got killed entering the area took all the glory out of that win for me :mad:

Cravez

J. Marston wrote: »

Fúck the Ancient Dragon.

One hit kill bullshít.

Use Gowers Ring of Protection. It Nullifies all damage taken from behind.

You can get it by using a bonfire ascetic at the bonfire crossroads in the shaded ruins, the one just before the very foggy wooded area. If you head into the foggy woods turn right and it will be on a corpse only a few moments away.

Also, are you trying to kill the Ancient Dragon to acquire the Giants Soul?

ProjectColossus

Oh man, that damn dragon. Don't bring summons as they will always get killed in my experience, and it just makes the fight tougher. You have to solo it.

The melee method that finally worked for me after many failures is to get under him and target the back legs. Stand between the toes on one leg and get in a few attacks, until he tries to stomp you. Immediately move to the other foot and repeat, swapping sides with every stomp. The AI bugs out and basically only does stomping attacks, but every once in a while a fire breath underneath itself (not while flying). So you also need to have the camera positioned so that you can see the head as you move between the legs. Also, switch legs after this attack also. Fight is trivial at this point.

One other gotcha - occasionally when repositioning to the other leg, it glitches into the floor, this is actually the stomp attack firing early and you need to move again immediately, you don't have time to attack first.

Cravez

The Ancient Dragon fight is actually redundant as you can acquire another Giants Souls another way (to make 5 in total). I only found out after many attempts of trying to kill him specifically for the Giants Soul.

Probably the only reason you'd want to fight him is that you want punishment :P

F1ngers

ProjectColossus wrote: »

The melee method that finally worked for me after many failures is to get under him and target the back legs. Stand between the toes on one leg and get in a few attacks, until he tries to stomp you. Immediately move to the other foot and repeat, swapping sides with every stomp. The AI bugs out and basically only does stomping attacks, but every once in a while a fire breath underneath itself (not while flying). So you also need to have the camera positioned so that you can see the head as you move between the legs. Also, switch legs after this attack also. Fight is trivial at this point.

This is by far the easiest way to do it.
He does the jumping fire attack in NG++ fighting him like this, Gowers Ring of Protection nullifies this.

J. Marston

Cravez wrote: »

Use Gowers Ring of Protection. It Nullifies all damage taken from behind.

You can get it by using a bonfire ascetic at the bonfire crossroads in the shaded ruins, the one just before the very foggy wooded area. If you head into the foggy woods turn right and it will be on a corpse only a few moments away.

Also, are you trying to kill the Ancient Dragon to acquire the Giants Soul?

Yep, plus I want all those souls you get when you kill him.

I'm currently trying finish off the spawns in Dragon Shrine now. It gets you a lot of souls and some decent gear but there are some tough enemies, especially those big black knights with the hammer, they never stop swinging.

Cravez

J. Marston wrote: »

Yep, plus I want all those souls you get when you kill him.

If you get pissed off trying to kill him, you get can another Giant Soul by

using a bonfire ascetic on the first bonfire in the Black Gulch. Go down and kill the two Forgotten Giants again and you will get another Giant's Soul.

Sgt Hartman

J. Marston wrote: »

Fúck the Ancient Dragon.

One hit kill bullshít.

If you have the strength to use it, a +10 Gyrm Shield used with both hands will save your ass against his AoE flame attack.

J. Marston

Yes! Beat the bastard.

Took about 30 minutes but I did it. Used Gower's ring which is brilliant (plus the ghost on your back is cool too).

My tactic was to go naked, armour doesn't matter since one hit and you're dead, and two-hand my Claymore 10+.

I had to stand right in front of its face. Whenever it flapped its wings, it meant the AoE attack so I ran like hell. I only got hit by it twice and the ring left me without a scratch. When it reared its neck back, that meant it was shooting fire straight ahead so I ran around the side and hit its toe with two swipes of the Claymore.

Rinse and repeat for half an hour. Thank God that's over.

Sir Digby Chicken Caesar

he never once did the shoot straight ahead for me

every ****ing time I got a hit in he jumped into the air and layed down his circle of instakill bull****

that fight took ages

J_E

I just abused the AI and stuck at the legs. Cheap boss, cheap strategy.

Sir Digby Chicken Caesar

Digital Solitude

I think cheap tactics are the way to beat it though? Like what's an actual legit strategy to beating it other than cheesing it's attacks repeatedly

J_E

Digital Solitude wrote: »

I think cheap tactics are the way to beat it though? Like what's an actual legit strategy to beating it other than cheesing it's attacks repeatedly

Be a magic user and use Gyrm Greatshield, or Gower's Ring Of Protection.

derfderf

Digital Solitude wrote: »

I think cheap tactics are the way to beat it though? Like what's an actual legit strategy to beating it other than cheesing it's attacks repeatedly

I fought it with 6 souls geysers, 8 spears and a vortex.

J_E

derfderf wrote: »

I fought it with 6 souls geysers, 8 spears and a vortex.

Whereas it took me over 200, 300 hits with my +10 crystal magic weapon Scimitar/Warped Sword! I honestly lost count. Melee is so hopeless at that stage of the game compared to magic.

Cravez

The Ancient Dragon fight reminded me alot like Monster Hunter. Huge Dragon to fight and the fight can go on for nearly 30 minutes, one wrong slip up and you're ****ed. Except in Dark Souls they have a health bar so you know when it's close to death!

J. Marston

Any tips on what to do before I dive into NG+?

I've read that a lot of people kill all the NPCs but apparently it gets you a lot of sin.

Cravez

Killing NPC's was more so for Dark Souls 1 as that's how you could only acquired additional unique items. In Dark Souls 2 you acquire most NPC's gear by following their storyline so it's not really required to kill them (unless you missed the chances of following their storyline properly), even killing an NPC won't net you all their gear (e.g killing Cale only gives you his helm, if you do his storyline and light all the fires on the map he gives you his entire set).

The only thing I would do is try use up bonfire ascetics to try get unique armor from red phantoms/other mobs if you want them, such as:
- Armor of Aurous from the Red Phantom in No Mans Wharf
- Catarina Armor from the Red Phantom in Forest of Fallen Giants (the area with the Ironclad Warriors that requires the Solder's Key)
- Heide Knight Armor set, farmed from the Heide Knights in Lost Bastille, Forest of Fallen Giants, Shrine of Winter etc

There's probably another one or two armor sets that can be farmed from Phantoms etc

Digital Solitude

Gilligan drops a cool looking sword... Dunno if it's useful. He's also a dickhead! 12,000 for a ladder? I always kill him for that alone. Don't kill any of the other NPCs as the poster above said, unless you like slaughtering arbiters constantly

calex71

J. Marston wrote: »

Any tips on what to do before I dive into NG+?

I've read that a lot of people kill all the NPCs but apparently it gets you a lot of sin.

Don't forget to stock up on the likes of poison arrows if you use those and the titanite from the blacksmiths daughter before moving to NG+

Mickeroo

Pretty much buying 999 of all arrows if you use a bow before going into NG+ is a good move or any buffs/consumables that aren't available in unlimited supply early in the game for that matter.

J. Marston

I've done a complete respec before NG+.

I've never tried being a mage so I've gone with an Intelligence build for sorcery but with some backup in Dex, just in case it doesn't work out.

SL: 160
Intelligence: 65
Attunement: 43
Strength: 17
Dexterity: 35

Those are the main stats. I'm using the Staff Of Wisdom +5 infused with magic.

Sun Sword +10 is my backup melee weapon.

This magic stuff better be good!

noodler

noodler wrote: »

Argh, royal rat authority is so cheap!

Royal rat and freyja spider beaten today, excellent afternoon!

Wondering where to go next.

noodler

Multiplayer mixed.

Still laggy as hell half the time despite the dedicated servers. Invaders appearing behind you etc (unless theres a super sprint button I haven't found yet!)

Thoughts on two covenants:

1) The rat one is some craic. I have unlocked almost every door in Pharros and its such great fun watching from above to see if the invader can get through all the traps. It is also regular.

2) Sadly, the Blue Sentinels which I love the sound of seems completely broken. Been wearing the ring for hours and nothing. Also the blue eyes crystals are useless (never, ever is their a world of the guilty to invade). I also can't believe the 500 kills required to fully rank up that covenant or how anyone is supposed to reach it!

J. Marston

noodler wrote: »

Multiplayer mixed.

Still laggy as hell half the time despite the dedicated servers. Invaders appearing behind you etc (unless theres a super sprint button I haven't found yet!)

Thoughts on two covenants:

1) The rat one is some craic. I have unlocked almost every door in Pharros and its such great fun watching from above to see if the invader can get through all the traps. It is also regular.

2) Sadly, the Blue Sentinels which I love the sound of seems completely broken. Been wearing the ring for hours and nothing. Also the blue eyes crystals are useless (never, ever is their a world of the guilty to invade). I also can't believe the 500 kills required to fully rank up that covenant or how anyone is supposed to reach it!

Yep, bringing justice to invaders really does sound like a great covenant. A shame that it's broke.

Now I just switch between the Bellkeepers, whenever I need titanite chunks, and Heirs Of The Sun whenever I need to feel grossly incandescent.

noodler

J. Marston wrote: »

Yep, bringing justice to invaders really does sound like a great covenant. A shame that it's broke.

Now I just switch between the Bellkeepers, whenever I need titanite chunks, and Heirs Of The Sun whenever I need to feel grossly incandescent.

Just reading online about the issue going back three months.

Silly they havent patched it so sentinels can help wob and maybe sunlight bros. Needs more activity.

Cravez

noodler wrote: »

2) Sadly, the Blue Sentinels which I love the sound of seems completely broken. Been wearing the ring for hours and nothing. Also the blue eyes crystals are useless (never, ever is their a world of the guilty to invade). I also can't believe the 500 kills required to fully rank up that covenant or how anyone is supposed to reach it!

Are you trying in NG+ and beyond? Apparently the Blue Sentinel covenant is only effective in NG+ and there after as the majority of PvP happens in NG+

noodler

Cravez wrote: »

Are you trying in NG+ and beyond? Apparently the Blue Sentinel covenant is only effective in NG+ and there after as the majority of PvP happens in NG+

Still in my original playthrough in fairness.

noodler

I am just past the double Dragonriders in Drangleic Castle. Am I coming near the end?

Should I embark on a NPC killing spree?

I have the guide but try not to read it. I eventually wanna platinum this so I am wondering is their stuff I should be doing this playthrough to avoid a NG+++ (I was able to platinum DS in 2 and a half playthroughs).