Hi all, I've found myself playing Dark Souls again recently, and like the first time I played it, I'm completely lost on build. I find myself using a weapon, then after a few levels, changing to a new one. (e.g Swords to Bows/Magic)

So, my character has no distinctive class traits. Just mildly decent at everything. Which isn't a good thing, from my experience anyway.

I was just looking for a few tips on how to make one/ a decent one that is proven in practice.

Also, I do love reading peoples opinion and experiences; so please do tell.

@Purpz: On my first playthrough I ended up using a halberd and bumping it up to a Divine halberd when I could. Worked great for me and I also spread my stats all over the place.

I didn't really stick to a certain weapon, but I generally used two-handed attacks and relied on dodging attacks, so I didn't use much heavy armor as I relied on some good speed...

@Village_Guy: @chazwuzhere3: Yeah, the Halberd was a useful weapon, and speed is extremely good. If I recall correctly, Isn't the Halberd quite a heavy weapon?

My bast character so far has probably been my intelligence-focused sorcerer.  At first I would mainly use sorceries, but became more and more melee-focused as I get magic/enchanted weapons, then the Moonlight Butterfly Horn (a spear), and eventually the Moonlight Greatsword.  By the time I got the greatsword, I was balancing sorceries and melee combat pretty evenly, or using sorceries that would augment my melee capability.  Only downside is that you have to keep your equipment load down.
 
I would also recommend a strength-focused/pyromancy build.  I like some of the Eastern Armor pieces, the Man-serpent Greatsword, and both offensive and defensive pyromancies.
 
Of course, you could just be lame and get some lightning weapons.

@Purpz said:

@Village_Guy: @chazwuzhere3: Yeah, the Halberd was a useful weapon, and speed is extremely good. If I recall correctly, Isn't the Halberd quite a heavy weapon?

Right now my character is level 110 with 31 endurance, 32 strength, 20 int, 23 faith - I thought I was more spread out but I suppose I was pretty skewed to the heavy melee. My divine Halbard does 185 damage + 227 magic damage (before stat buffs); 6 weight. Not too heavy I think.

Choose a magic you want to specialize in, then build a weapon that boosts off of your magic stat. For pyromancy you have freedom of choice.

I chose a dex build and decided to kill the merchant near the beginning to get the uchigatana since it scales incredible well with dex. So I just continued building it until it was +15 and then POW, unstoppable!

Around 50 vit, around 40 end, DWGR (Dark Wood Grain Ring) and I'm good to go. When I pvp'd regularly my favorite pvp style was the backstabbing hornet ringed hate inducing turtle. Haters gonna hate.

I think the underlying theme is Magic and Speed. And @mscupcakes: I always kill him, because there's the update which made every merchant sell arrows now.

Int/Dex-focused.

• 20 Strength
• 12 Attunement
• 20 Vitality
• 40 Endurance
• 40 Dexterity
• 40 Intelligence
• (Give or take)

Get some light armor + crown of dusk, and a Washing Pole +15/Black Bow of Pharis as your weapons! For rings use Lingering Dragoncrest Ring and Dark Wood Grain Ring. Power Within with a flame which isn't upgraded, and crystalised weapon. Everything will die before you. You won't be completely finished until NG+.

Pick a weapon type that has good scaling in a certain attribute, like STR, DEX or FTH, and then put a lot of points into that attribute (but not more than 40 unless you need it to wield the weapon).

Alternatively just put enough points in for you to be able to wield a weapon you are comfortable with and then focus on Vitality and Stamina. Keep upgrading the weapon until you can make it into a Lightning or Fire weapon and you'll be pretty much set. If you make a Faith or Intelligence based character do the same thing but put the points into those categories instead of Vit/Stam.

Get some pyromancy and upgrade it, it's free from any attribute restrictions besides attunement which controls the amount of spellslots you have access to.

Choose if you want to wear heavy armor or not. If you do, consider using Havel's Ring to prevent sluggish movement. Aside from choosing between heavy or light armor and shields wear whatever you like, upgrade it and sooner or later it will stop mattering.

Having 14 Int so you are able to cast the Light spell can make your life easier also.

Thanks people, hopefully I won't get stomped this play-though!

Getting stomped is the name of the game!

@chazwuzhere3 said:

Getting stomped is the name of the game!

Ah, too true, too true.

Semi-related topic, but is there any reason to NOT use a lightning weapon all the time regardless of what build you're using? My current build is huge into dexterity, but even the A-rated painting guardian sword at +15 wouldn't be anywhere near as effective as if it was just lightning +5. Is the only advantage of regular weapons that they can have temporary enchants and do you really need something like 99 in a stat for the scaling to be effective?

In my current game I just finished the Painted World and am using a lightning balder straight sword and Priscilla's dagger. Dragonbone great bow for ranged, although I might switch to the black bow later. I've definitely noticed I have to be a bit more careful than I did on my sorcerer though.

I've a habit of making new builds whenever I start a new playthrough, and out of the dozen-or-so characters I've created faith-heavy builds with dex intense stats and endurance in place of decent vitality. I used this as a starting point, and to be fair my build pretty much mirrors until level 50 or so. It's great fun!

If you ever see Ornstein and Smough in the Darkroot Gardens come and say hello, there's a good chance it's a friend and me :D

Semi-related topic, but is there any reason to NOT use a lightning weapon all the time regardless of what build you're using? My current build is huge into dexterity, but even the A-rated painting guardian sword at +15 wouldn't be anywhere near as effective as if it was just lightning +5. Is the only advantage of regular weapons that they can have temporary enchants and do you really need something like 99 in a stat for the scaling to be effective?

In my current game I just finished the Painted World and am using a lightning balder straight sword and Priscilla's dagger. Dragonbone great bow for ranged, although I might switch to the black bow later. I've definitely noticed I have to be a bit more careful than I did on my sorcerer though.

My favorite http://tinyurl.com/737kv4m

When I first got Dark Souls I really had no idea what I was doing, so my character was a mess. I eventually got stuck in Blighttown unable to beat quelaag. My stats were all over the place I started as a Wanderer, and was up to soul level 42. I had focused a lot on strength so I could use the Black Knights Greatsword. However, none of my other stats were geared to a character to use a weapon that heavy and slow. I had terrible endurance and vitality ( I really had no idea what i was doing). I also fell into the Drake Sword trap and was not very good at the combat because of that. After attempting 50+ times to kill quelaag and failing miserably each time I decided to start a new character. This time I actually paid attention to what I was doing. I pumped a decent amount of souls into Dex, and a lot into Vit. and End. I also avoided the Drake sword, and so far the game is much more enjoyable. I really like being a fast character who can just roll around and back stab everything. I haven't even set foot into blighttown yet, and I'm already level 42 because I just don't die as often as I used to.