So, Load Our Last Souls has gotten me interested in Dark Souls, and based on what I've seen, I would like to play the same type of class/role as Vinny. In games like this, I do tend to buff endurance, armor and strength, so I would like to build the same type of character as the great Mindcavitus. If I wanted to do that, what I would be looking for? I missed the part where they described the character and class that Vinny is using. Any other beginner help would be appreciated!

The starting class doesn't make much of a difference in Dark Souls. The classes determine your starting stats and equipment but you can level up your character to play any style. That said, the knight class is the most tanky starting class.

Your class only really decides your starting armour and stats (I haven't played it in a while so this could be wrong) so don't sweat that too much. Playing in a similar manner to Vinny is probably one of the best ways to go as a beginner because it means you don't have to worry about dodging or countering. Just pick the biggest set of armour, the biggest weapon and the biggest shield you can find and smash fools.

Class only matters for your starting stats and gear. After that you are free to level up and gear how you please. So just because you want to play like a tank for example doesn't mean warrior is the only choice, it can be quite viable to start with a Pyromancer for early access to pyromancy spells and then go into a more tanky direction. (i mention pyromancy only because it's a nice few extra spells on the cheap for non caster focused builds). Or you can go with warrior/knight classes to start getting used to the slowness, blocking and not dodging earlier on. In essence Darksouls has a classless system.

Then you gotta decide just how agile you wanna be and select your weapons/armor/shields/rings etc based around that. There are basically encumbrance thresholds that make your movement/dodging slower 25%/50%/100% of your total encumbrance. As a more heavy build character you can either go for under 50% equip load but this means you will have to juggle some armor/rings to get under that and spend a lot of stats to increase your encumbrance, but dodging still remains very viable. Or just say fuck it and go for at least being under a 100% which will make you slow as fuck, but is way easier to achieve and equip heavier stuff with. Also some enemies deal magic/fire/lightning damage which some armors are better against then others. Another important armor stat for heavy builds is poise. Poise makes you harder to stagger/knockdown/flinch, with low poise enemies will interrupt your attacks and animations with their hits, with high poise you can not give a shit and swing away, it doesn't reduce damage but it's fairly important. You will find tons of armor and gear through ought the game so don't sweat this and just equip what seems like the best stuff for the time.

For shields again you gotta decide do you want lighter shields that can parry, which takes some practice but does huge damage if you are good at it. Or heavier shields which can't parry, are much heavier (duh) thus are a bigger hit on your encumbrance limit, but they generally have better stability (important for blocking effectively with less stamina loss) and better resists. Generally you want shields with 100% physical resist, and as high a stability as you can manage for a tanky tanky build. Not gonna recommend anything specific, once again just compare stuff as you get it, it's not hard.

Weapons are a more complicated topic with a huge number of categories, upgrade paths etc. But if you are making a high STR character (necessary for bigger shields anyway) then you might want to stick with weapons that have STR as the primary required stat and as a primary scaling stat. Scaling is basically increased weapon damage based on how much of that stat you have, weapons list them in their statistics as S,A,B,C,D and so on (- means 0 scaling). Damage scaling with stats drops off after 40 to insignificant levels. Also just because weapon A does more damage on paper then weapon B doesn't make A better necessarily. Weapons have different swing speeds, hitboxes and animations so a lot of people just go with what feels more comfortable. A lot of it comes down to trying out every weapon you come across to see how it handles.

(personally I will swear by the Zweihander, which you can find fairly early, it upgrades well, scales well with str, has very nice wide vertical and horizontal swings, not too slow for a heavy weapon, low relative weight for heavy power, and will knock down smaller enemies and even stagger heavier enemies, finally it looks pretty badass) But really almost any weapon is totally viable way to play.

Finally a small tip, don't forget that you can just carry multiple different armor sets (inventory doesn't affect equip load, unless item is equiped) , shields and weapons, and switch them out depending on situation. Fighting a fire breathing dragon? Equip a shield with lots of fire resists. Fighting something shooting magic? You can equip a magic resist shield for better results. Same goes for armor, rings, weapons with different effects and properties.

For general tips look here http://www.giantbomb.com/dark-souls/3030-32697/forums/beginner-thread-518307/#600

Small correction, you're saying poise but you're taking about stability. Stability determines how much stamina you lose while blocking.

Oooops.Thanks for that, i'll amend.

The Vinny method is pretty amusing, however somewhat ham fisted :P

There are easier ways to go about doing things.

I'm prettttttttttttty sure this is the character he created on some live stream they did way back. Or maybe I'm mucking up that whole memory.

@ahynds: He's using the Havel's Set for armor (found in the basement of Anor Londo) which is the best non-upgradeable armor set in the game. As long as you get Havel's Ring, it's pretty much wearable by anyone with a decent amount of endurance. As for his weapon (Black Knight's Halberd, I believe?), that is a bit of a lucky drop. Those weapons have a lower drop rate and no guaranteed way to get them until the end of the game. I recommend heading to http://darksoulswiki.wikispaces.com/ and looking up any information you want to know about armor and weapons here. It may all seem a bit confusing at first, but you'll start figuring it out when you get into the game a bit.

It's funny cus in the Dark Souls quick look he completely bashes and hates the fat roll, yet now he's playing a super fat rolly lady.

But he really should move away from Havels. it's not worth the weight.

Can't be that lucky, I have 3.

It's way too late to learn how to play properly now, he has to stick with the tank-method. :P

And Vinny has 3 titanite slabs in his inventory. Either he's an extremely lucky bastard or someone dropped that stuff for him. ;)

@korwin said:

You've beaten the game then. There are two Black Knights that don't respawn that have a chance of dropping it. There is a respawning one in the Kiln of the First Flame that can be farmed for it at a bit higher drop rate, but that isn't until the end of the game.

Just wanted to pop in to make an argument for the Elite Knight armor set. It has great defense and high poise, making you pretty tanky but allowing you to midroll. It's also easy to get early on if you know where to go (but hard to find if you don't).

Oh totally, but I only got 2 of them from the Kiln Knights :P

Watching Vinny play made me quickly realize how shitty my character was. I have to reevaluate my play-style.

When I read the thread title I thought to myself, "Oh, you want to play like Vinny? So, you constantly get lost, hesitate to attack at times and then die in random ways?"

But seriously, I kind of went the same route as him stat wise. I put a lot into strength but I also have an (almost) equal amount in endurance, some in vitality and some in dex, and, so far, it's been treating me well. I don't have some of the equipment he has (mainly the Black Knight Halberd. I want it so bad!) but I've been tearing up anything I've come across.

@dudeglove: That. Is. Amazing.

@dudeglove: The Legend Never Dies.

A lot of people really enjoy the Zweihander, but I personally found that I prefer the Greatsword. It doesn't break through poise quite as well, but I find the utility of the heavy thrusting attack more than makes up for it, at least for how I play the game. It naturally comes down to personal preference, of course.

@dudeglove: Yeah, if you're planning to use ultra greatswords, there's no real reason not to start with the Zweihander, whether you intend to keep with it to the end or not; anything comparable typically comes quite a bit later, unless you get some lucky drops. (Also the first time I posted this response it was mysteriously erased for some reason...)

I dumped all my points into atunement and intelligence, and although a somewhat rougher earlier start, it actually makes much of the game a joke.

I killed Pinwheel in two hits with soul spear, I still have no idea what that boss actualy does.

Same goes for the fire centipede or whatever.