After getting up to Andor Londo on my first playthrough, I found I hadn't specialized enough to be doing as much damaged. So I decided to start over and do a more focused run. I picked pyromancier and decided to build for dex.

lvl 43

vit 10

att 14

end 31

str 14

dex 27

res 12

int 10

fat 8

Gear:

Uchigatana +10

Pyro Flame +4

Hollow Soldier Shield

Gold-Hemmed Black Set

I'm about to start making my way through Sen's Fortress and at this point I'm not really sure what I should be focusing on. Any tips or suggestions?

I mean, I'm no Dark Souls genius or anything, but I reckon some Vitality night help. When I played though it, I pumped Endurance like you, then mix of VIT and DEX. Seemed to work out ok for me.

Endurance, vitality, and dex. Get them up high but not past the edge of diminishing return. Attunement could take a few points as well if you want more slots for pyromancy I suppose. Beyond that, how do you feel as you play? Do you feel like you die to quickly when you do take a hit? Get Vit. Do you want to be able to roll and swing more without having to rebuild your endurance meter back up, get more end. Want more damage and faster spells? Get dex. You'll need all three eventually, but prioritize whatever you feel suits the way you're playing right now.

You forgot to put your str or dex stat on there.

You have enough end for where you're at that you can start focusing on Dex. Maybe a little Vit but if you use a shield you don't really need a lot. I finished the game with only like, 24 Vit or something the first time I played. You only have 10 though so you may want to put like 5 points there.

Your upgrades look like you're already on the right track. You may be able to upgrade your pyro a little more right now but really you seem fine. You mainly will probably want more VIT so you don't get 1 shotted when you do get hit.

Remember to upgrade your shield. You only upgrade the stability, but that determines how much stamina a blocked attack eats up.

If you plan on sticking with light armors, then stick with leveling Dexterity and Vitality, with some Attunement here and there for more spell slots.

VIT, for the love of God.

With that setup, put END on 40 and get VIT up to 20-25 then I would either make the katana +15 and start putting everything into DEX, OR I would make an elemental weapons and just go wild with VIT.

If you like the smaller shields, I'd switch to a Heater; same as the Hollow, but with 5 more Fire Def and 2 less Stability at +15, while weighing 1.5 less.

Otherwise, get some Vit.

I'm really familiar with the early sections and enemies, so I ignored vit entirely. I've probably died under 20 times up to this point. I feel like I might be able to get away with it through Sen's, but I'm not as confident about AL.

I'm under the penalty for weight as is it, though I do have a Heater.

Yeah I feel pretty good about how I'm built right now. I've mostly been using pyro in certain situations, like if I can't single out some of the tougher enemies. I guess VIT is what I'll go for now, as I suspect I'm going to hit a point soon where I can't avoid nearly all damage.

Being more under weight, though, would allow you to wear even heavier armor. You're essentially gaining an extra 1.5 weight to play with for free.

Obviously, anything is viable and it's up to player choice, but just something to think about.

Unless you're telling us you're able to never get hit at all, get some Vitality.

Ha! and I thought I was at the bottom for usually playing through the game with between 15-18 vitality.

If you're at Sen's you'll have a bit of a ways to go before facing the Anor Londo boss, which is the point you'll want to be prepared for. If I were you I would: 1. put the next 5-7 levels into Vitality. 2. Then start putting points into Dex to get more damage as the Anor Londo boss can be tough and you don't want too draw the battle out too much.

After Anor Londo the enemies don't get significantly stronger so you can just leisurely get your Vit upp to where you're comfortable. You should try to max Dex at some point unless you want even more Stamina. Are you using any specific rings that you are attached to? Otherwise, if you didn't get it earlier, you'll be able to get the Ring of Favor and Protection in Anor Londo.

I don't know if you're making a PVP build, but unless you want to restrict your Soul Level to PVP within a certain range then you can go crazy with your stats and get VIT, END, and DEX to 40. 45 DEX will give you the max casting speed for Great Combustion.

If you want to use the flip ring with 60 poise there is specific equipment and END you need to have to accomplish that for low level (below Soul Level 50) PVP.

This is pretty much what I ended up doing. My VIT is 17 now I think. I was able to beat S&O with Solaire, killing Ornstein last. I ended up running out of flasks and having to go in and equip humanity in the middle of the second part of the battle to heal more haha.

I've been wearing Blue Teadstone (extra DEF at low HP) and Ring of Steel Protection (extra Physical DEF) to balance out my low HP. I think at this point I'm past relying on them though. I pick the ring you mentioned right before doing the boss, so I hadn't looked at it yet. Sounds pretty good, I might roll with that from now on. Is it good enough to give up a ring slot permanently though?

Edit: Oh, and I'm not building for PVP at all. I can't even get the game online right now. I think it has to do with GFWL.

@vikingrk: Ring of Favor and Protection increases you HP, equipment load and Stamina each by 20%, unless you're going for something else, specific to your build, it is the best ring in the game. The most trouble it can give you is that it limits your changeable rings to only 1, if you (like I did initially) were to use it together with the other ring that increases equip burden just to use heavy equipment and move fast, then there are a few points in the game that can mess you up because you need to have another ring equipped to not die. The lesson is never become reliant on both of your ring slots.

You don't seem to have anything specific going though aside from survivability so replace either ring (I'd suggest the Steel Protection Ring but it's a toss up) and use the extra equipment burden for a a piece of gear with a bit of poise or something, if you can. Even a little bit can be useful.

If worse comes to worst, removing and breaking the ring is not the end of the world.

+10 uchi should get you through that part of the game no problem