It just came on me that the Looking Glass Knight fight was not how I envisioned it when I first heard about it. I thought that it was gonna summon other players to help it fight the player, and not just NPC phantoms. Kind of a shame From has never revisited the Old Monk style of boss fight since Demon's.

Yeah, with the fat demon it's the only boss resistant to lightning in the game from what I can tell and they're huge pushovers. The only one that could've stoped my cleric's murderous rampage and I crushed him on first try.

I'm right at the end I think and the hardess boss, aside from that dumb AOE one shot everything secret optional boss I didn't beat, was definitively the armored fire demon. Really hope they do a DLC with more asshole bosses like that one because there were way to many bosses I crushed in this game.

@thunderslash: Looking Glass only summons humans on NG+, and apparently only rarely. He will only choose from people that have their red sign down in the level from what I have heard.

@mosespippy: Thanks duder, I'll do some tinkering with my gear and try again tonight. My longsword is only doing about 120ish per swing, it is going to be a long fight I think. I also have a +10 magic mace, but I since he isn't armored I thought the longsword would be the better option. I have 35ish STR, maybe I'll try one of the greatswords I have in my inventory. I normally don't like their move sets, but it could be worth giving a shot. I also may pay the ancient dragon a visit to try to get that last giant soul. I honestly had an easier time with Darklurker, even though I can totally tell that should be a harder fight.

Go tell that to my 18 great lightning spear casts. Took between 5 and 8 to take him down. I'll make sure to come back with a full melee character for more of a chalenge even though the rewards only benefit a full on caster.

You can deal damage, and it carries over into the boss fight proper.

In my experience, it's also the only real way of keeping her alive for the Smelting Demon fight, though thankfully she only needs to live through 3 of the 4 fights.

Yeah, finally beat him along with Flexile Sentry and Lost Sinner so I think I only have to find her in Aldia's keep.

If you have enough str, use either the Havel or Great Gyrm shield. Fully upgraded, they have high enough stability that you should be able to take at least two hits before your guard is broken, depending on your stamina. Don't simply hug a leg, try to stand square behind him. When he jumps, sprint towards him with your shield up and get back around.

Also, sin definitely carries through, as my killing spree of all NPCs and then entering NG+ can confirm. You do however keep the feather. If you're worried about sin, one solution is to kill all NPCs other than the pardoner, and have your sins resolved. You can get his equipment elsewhere without needing to accomplish any side quest, so that will be fine.

So I looked up how many sublime bone dusts there are in the game because I felt like I hadn't found that many, and it turns out I have completely missed out on one of them. Apparently that 2nd big knight in Heide's Tower of Flame always drops it when you kill him, but when I first got there he knocked me off the edge and then shortly followed me into the abyss. You'd think the item would be sitting there next time, but I don't remember seeing it, although I may have just run home after that. I doubt missing one will be too big of a deal, it just kind of sucks.

Wow. Shrine of Amana is the first time I've thought, "this isn't fun. I'm not having fun playing this right now." This game needs a fucking rusted iron ring or something cause this is garbage.

@dethfish: It seems the amount of HP regen increase they each give is small enough that it's really nothing to worry about.

@hansolol yeah, the spellcasters are a pain on their own, but throwing in human-equivalent enemies that aren't affected by deep water is fucked up and cheap. Not saying the other Souls games didn't do similar things, though. The Butcher's Knife-wielding black phantom in the Valley of Defilement in Demon's Souls comes to mind, alongside all the other enemies there. But that's still not quite up to DSII levels of unfairness.

So, I found something in Shrine of Armana that I didn't find the first time. After the Demon of Song fight. To the right there is a bonfire shortly after exiting the boss room. Up the stairs there is one of the singing women sitting next to this giant flame that you can pray at but it did nothing for me. Anyone figure out what this does?

@demoskinos: It restores your humanity if you don't have any effigies left. I suppose From included it so that if players ran out of effigies they wouldn't be totally locked out of summoning and such until they got lucky with a drop or be forced to use an ascetic.

Well my Dark Souls 2 adventure has come to a close now. Reaching the level of 233 and 138 hours played I have finally grabbed that Platinum trophy (this can probably be done much faster but I like taking my time). It feels like a haze has lifted and now I am as free as a bird. Until it goes on sale on PC and then I'll play it again....

It's funny, I reached that section a couple days ago and I'm feeling the same way. So I went back and started cleaning up the optional bosses I skipped (Chariot and Smelter). Now I'm just battling against the Demon of Song over and over again with little success.

@gaminghooligan: Visions of face but face.

Demon of Song is a pushover. As long as you can roll you'll do just fine. You have to stay right in front of her at all times but just out of reach of her arms. After she swipes futilely at you run in and hit her dual handed 2-3 times. Her one attack that might mess with your head is when she jumps up in the air. Just note you have to dodge farther than you think you do because she outstretches her arms when she falls down. As long as you have room to roll around 3 times backward its an easy dodge. The only attack that is a real threat is when she decides to start spitting water jets at you. Just keep strafing either left or right do dodge them.

Has anyone fully cleared The Forest of Fallen Giants yet? I'm fast approaching the end of the game and I still can't get beyond the wooden gate beneath the wall over by the general are that leads you to the cartographer. and as far as I can't for the life of me get onto the area above the Fire Salamander cave opening where all the scaffolding is.

If someone could point me in the right direction or if I need to do something else first that would be mint. I'm having a real hard time wanting to progress in case I hit the end game and miss out on those areas. Cheers!

That gate doesn't open. The area on the other side is the dead end bonfire that you get to opening the door with the key after taking out the Last Giant. You've been there, they just don't link right there.

The other area you don't get to until you get the kings ring to open the kings door on the other side of the fire pit. That takes you to that area.

@sterling: Good Man! Thanks.

So, I'm tentatively thinking about getting the Platnium trophy. My question to anyone who is on that journey is this I've heard there is a mechant who sells some covenant reward sorceries, hexes ect. in NG+ is this all of them? Are there any covenant rewards that I should be looking to get before I go NG+ that he doesn't sell?

I think the collection of all the spells and hexes are going to be the biggest pain in the butt as far as trophies go.

NG++ he sells them. And you can not use a BA to get them. You actually have to clear the game twice and then run 3/4ths of the game a third time. The only thing that you have to get from a covenant are hidden weapon from bellbros lvl 2, a lighting miracle from sunbros lvl 3 and a hex from darkbros lvl 3. Everything else can be gotten else where in NG (using BA to go into NG and get boss souls to trade for them) or bought in NG++.

I'm towards the end of my first playthrough but one thing I still haven't figure out...

Do you know the room with the 5 bastillas in Forest of Fallen Giants, underneath that there's a place to use a Pharro's Lockstone and a door... I still have no idea how to get that door open after about 45 hours... Can anyone point me in the right direction?

@vaddixbell: Attack it a couple times and then back up and wait.

@sterling: BA?

@demoskinos: Sorry, Bonfire Ascetic.

@arkkazeal: Wow nice job!

@demoskinos: wow that's what it is then. I've been wearing heavy armor and fat rolling, luckily I have a set of Creighton's armor I leveled up for just this occasion. good advice, thanks!

Yesterday was an uncharacteristically good day for me in Dark Souls. I beat the Dragonriders, Looking Glass Knight and that demonic frog all in the span of one life, which is probably a personal record for me in these games. The shrine of amana wasn't too difficult, but I'd seen people complaining about this area earlier, so I was extra cautious and stocked up on lots of arrows. If anything it was tedious because of how slow I was going. There was also an NPC summon which helped me out a lot. Difficulty of this area aside, I thought the Shrine of Amana was a nice section of the game. The singing helped make the whole place feel very atmospheric.

After yesterdays unusual success, I'm hesitant to play again since it's unlikely I'll have a repeat performance.

@soldierg654342: I'm SL 55 right now. Still having problems with them. Every time I summon someone in, they die so far because they don't know what they are doing, so I've given up on it.

I can get Yahim down pretty fast. It's when the other two come into play that I have the problems. It's really just the whirlwind that is causing problems. I found that NOT locking on to them makes it much easier to dodge their attacks, and I run around a lot. It's just going to take some patience that I don't have yet.

I HAVE to beat the Ruin Sentinels to get to Sinner's Rise, right? To Straid? There's no other way?

@jakob187: Yep Sentinels are a required fight. They are the only way to access sinners rise.

The sentinels are actually much easier than I assumed. Take the first one out by himself, and just have a shield with good poise and hopefully 100% damage resist.

@jakob187: Shit, man, I feel for you. I once spent a whole day just sitting at that boss fight helping people through it. In one of the cells that lead up to the fog wall, there should be an NPC summoning sign named Pilgrim Bellclaire. I think the cell is on the right side of the hallway. He's a magic user so all you have to do is kite around the two sentinels on the lower level while he blasts them away. It'll take a little bit but it makes the fight much easier.

@patman99: Haven't seen anything like that, but then again, I keep staying Hollow, so summoning isn't something I do a lot of.

@jakob187: Go back to them later. They are totally doable at that level (I beat them at around 40 the first time) they aren't supposed to be the next boss in the list. You should head to the Tower of Flame now.

@jakob187: The Sentinals are in fact optional. There is a Pharros Lockstone that will get you right across the bridge from Sinners Rise. I think you need the antiquated key as well.

Need some build advise fellows.

So here are my current stats:

Soul Level : 116

• VGR - 21
• END - 17
• VIT - 13
• ATN - 24
• STR - 16
• DEX - 17
• ADP - 17
• INT - 40
• FTH - 4

My question is....I'm mostly a sorceries guy right now and I also roll around with an enchanted lightning uchigatana. Would it be worth splitting my INT and evening it out with my FTH at 22 and using some miracles?

Hell, right now, I'm just trying to find any way to go. After finally hitting a massive stride of "oh yeah, I've got all this stuff to do now" and then doing all that stuff for the most part, I've hit that point where it's like "ooooooookay, so now where do I go" and double back on everything that I had possibly missed. The only thing I really find to do at the moment is the Ruin Sentinels to move forward in some way. Beyond that, I just used a Branch to unpetrify Rosabeth, so I can go to the Shaded Woods now. I'll probably do that tonight. Seems dangerous and promising.

@demoskinos: If you're an int build you want a magic weapon since the buffs you put on it will actually ad to the magic and boost it percentage wize. Lightning is bad unless you have high faith. If you split int faith you'll have access to hexes and I'm told they're really powerful but if you keep the int I think you'll do more damage unless you plan to go 40 faith, 40 int at least.

You can always go.... uh.... down. Also if you have gotten the miracle lady to move to town you can go to the Huntsman's Copse as well. You have plenty left to do, it is just that opening bit is very head scratching.

@demoskinos:

ran into you in the bell tower the other day I believe, INT covers pyromancies and spells I believe so if miracles are what you want go the faith route. Plus it will improve your sword as it scales with faith as well. I feel like thor with my characters lightning abilities lol.

Playing New Game Plus now and I am seeing next to no summon signs in No Man's Wharf. Anyone know the level range for that area? I am around level 140. Does having one Bonfire Ascetic used on the bonfire affect matchmaking? I had used one on that bonfire to get Lucatiel's stuff during New Game.

So I was messing with Hexes yesterday man... they are pretty awesome. That Dark damage just destroys things. I am a believer and ready to level up DRK even more now.

@karkarov: I have started progressing again. I just needed time to sit down and dig around. My play sessions are usually only an hour or two at max because of work unfortunately.

I had already gone down the big hole in Majula to get to Grave of Saints and The Gutter. Was stuck on the Rat boss, but finally leveled it. I also beat the Ruin Sentinels this morning. I didn't want to summon Pilgrim, but I caved. Man, he made that fight WAAAAAAAY too easy.

Now I have a lot of other spots unlocked, picked up the Great Club, and just need to do some more exploring.

So question... anyone know what Bonfire is attached to Prowling Magus? I want to revive him to fight him again with Benheart to complete his quest.

I imagine the one up at the workers camp inside the tent at the top of Tseldora Cove.

Well tried fighting Nashandra with Benheart instead of reviving Magus. Went about as well as I thought it would. He ran straight up to her she swung her scythe a bunch and he died. Guess Magus it is. I hate you Benheart.

I present to you gentlemen the ultimate grinding spot in Dark Souls II I'm going to mark spoilers as it involves a late game boss/area.

So, want to make like a Million souls in just under an hour? Sure you do. So here is how.

Going back to the 4th bonfire outside the memory of Jeigh (and were assuming here that you've already beaten Giant Lord) use a Bonfire Asetic on the bonfire. Doing this will restock the Twinkling Titanitex 2 drop next to the bonfire it will also bring the Giant Lord back. Luckily this guy is a pushover and can net you 400k souls once you burn enough ascetics.

• Enter the fog door and wait until the fire catapults shoot the area closest too you then run up almost to where the giant is to activate the rolling statue head then instantly retreat back to the door.
• Wait for the statue to stop and the way to be safe and run past the statue head and to the left near a small alcove where there is a ballista.
• Take out a ranged weapon or if you're a miracle user aim for the Giant's head and shoot him with an arrow or Lightning Spear.
• Take out a 100% damage reduction shield and stand behind the ballista.
• Wait for the giant to walk up near you he should be able to slam his sword down and smash the ballista you CAN block the attack but it will take all your stamina this is fine as he attacks VERY slow.
• Once the Ballista is cleared and you can move you now have space to dodge his attacks left to right and peg him with ranged arrow attacks or magic. Simply double roll left or right to dodge his attacks with your back to the wall. Be wary of the right hand side as you CAN get hit by the fire if you go too far right.
• Kill him and profit.
• Near the start of the level there is a bonfire ascetic that spawns as loot this allows you to repeat this process infinite number of times. Also you can get a fire seed and a Divine Blessing each time you do a run.

@demoskinos: If you stand on the raised area directly on the left of the boss, you'll be out of range of his attacks and you can just pelt him with magic or ranged until dead. He can't get up the little stairs there so just watch for his sword swipes. No danger at all.