Does anyone else play sorcerer? Or "int build" is perhaps more correct. I like how the game plays and everything and I don't feel like I'm to weak. But I can't seem to figure out how some bosses are meant to be killed with this build. I'm currently at Sinner's Rise and I'm stuck at the area boss. Now, I'm very adamant about soloing every boss so unless I'm stuck for another week or so I probably won't resort to summoning.

I have tried to stay away from reading to much on this game but I do know that if I kill the gargoyles behind the pharaoh door, the sinner's boss room will be available to light up. Problem is, I'm struggling with them as well. Has anyone soloed these bosses as a sorcerer yet? If so how did you go about it?

Also this thread could be used to generally discuss boss strategies for sorcerers I guess, just make sure to use them spoiler blocks.

For the gargoyles I'm pretty sure I used a sword and shield for much of the fight, even as a sorcerer. I might be remembering it wrong, though, as it's been a few days since I did that fight. Good luck with Sinner's Rise. I had to get help for that one, but I also didn't know the room could be lit up.

@hamborgini: Have you put any points into str/dex? Or is there something similar to enchanted ember in this game to make swords scale with int?

Get the lingering flame spell and just keep running in circles around the roof without even looking at the gargoyles. Let the flame spell do the damage as you just keep running. For me this killed most of them and I finished off the rest with other magic. I got through the entire game without ever using melee on a boss so it's possible for sure.

I'd actually wait until they've all come to life before using the spell as then it'll hit more of them.

I found an enchanted falchion in the bastille/belfry area. I don't remember the stat requirements, but it does scale with int. It was actually way harder to get that than to fight the belfry boss, but fortunately there is a bonfire right next to the thing you have to fight to get to it.

Gargoyles are pretty easy to avoid. Though it also helps to have some of the more potent spells by then, soul spear, great heavy soul arrow. I'm not sure how you solo sinner though as I never tried, I'm perfectly happy to co-op if I think a boss is going to be even a bit of a pain solo. I also recommend dipping into all the magics, as it makes the game more interesting, though I also followed a guide to get my guy up to snuff, and hunting around for everything wasn't exactly fun, but I'm finally past that and enjoying the variety of spells. Worth to try pyromancy for Flame Swathe alone.

Anecdotally Sorcerer appears to be the most popular starting class.

This is my next character that I will be creating.

Ok, so I managed to kill those gargoyles by just running back and forth along the roof while shooting them. The sinner became way easier to solo when the room was lit up, especially since you no longer lose target all the time when getting to far away from her.

Right now I'm stuck on the area boss of the shady forest which ironically seems to be resistant to sorceries, so this should be fun.

Hey OP, I beat the game as a pure sorcerer (in terms of only using sorc spells). In the Lost Bastille(not sure where) is a magic mace. It needs 12 str, 5 dex. This item is among the best, maybe even the best sorcerer melee weapon you will find the entire game so I highly suggest finding this and leveling it to +10 when you can. It also means your dex never has to go above the base of 7. I highly suggest using this along with the Drangelic Shield (16 str) and learning to melee most simple enemies (guys with cursed axes before the boss you are at, guys in next area, guys in entire undead copse and following areas). This will actually make most things easier then only using magic and gives great alternatives for going through simple enemies and many bosses remaining in the game. I see you beat the boss that was giving you a lot of trouble, but this setup makes the boss way easier. Also Great Heavy soul arrow is probably the best spell in your arsenal for bosses (IMO).

As a pure melee character that doesn't use a shield, sorcerer's have been kicking my ass in PVP. Seems like there are some pretty good spells out there.

I tried my hardest to make a magic character this time around, but it just wasn't working out for me so after 3 hours of gameplay I re-made a melee tank build. I might go back to my original mage at one point. For now, Greatshields for life, F the shield haters in this game.

I'm going to build a dark mage as my second character for sure. My first character is definitively the DS2 easy mode (equivalent to the royal and pyro), the cleric. A good amount of great ranged spells you can get early on that's most effective against the hardest enemies in the game and a bunch of healing to help with the limited amount of flasks. With a bunch of points in strength you get an unstoppable PvE killing machine. Terrible for PvP encounters though or maybe I need to get a better strategy.

I'm enjoying my time as a Sorcerer and things are going fine for the most part, but I don't really know what I'm doing wrong that some people get away with killing huge enemies with magic. If I'm getting chased around by three enemies and it takes three or four casts to kill them, I don't know how people just rip through enemies the way they claim to.

Get a huge fucking grip of spell casting speed; also the MLGsword.

@silversaint: Thanks for the tip! Actually, about those guys you are talking about, I found that I can kill them really easily by backstabbing them with a basic dagger (not upgraded at all). I have no idea what's up with that but it works.

I'm a sorcerer, yes, and I've been using pure magic for the vast majority of the game (though I do heavily use a Large Leather Shield).

For me, personally, the gargoyles were actually one of the easiest bosses in the game, so I'm not sure what I did differently.

I found the Lost Sinner to be nearly impossible without brightening the room, because she keeps breaking your lock-on constantly. I also summoned help for that fight in the end, but it probably wasn't necessary.

The only times that I've really felt like I've needed to use melee weapons so far were the minotaurs in the forest, and the Royal Rat Authority.

Some of the bosses in Dark Souls II are real tough to defeat with a pure magic build. At SL 74, the only things I had put points into were ATN and INT. My build was:

ATN: 40

INT: 49

VGR: 5

END: 6

ADP: 8

Because of this, some bosses like The Lost Sinner or those three statue guys required me to summon a partner and I had to fight those battles with two phantoms assisting me. Thankfully, those are the only battles I needed one for. I ended up rerolling to reluctantly put some points into VGR and END. The extra health and stamina's pretty helpful, though, so I don't regret it too much. Now, for PvP in duels, this build has been total crap because I don't have the advanced spells to support it. It works when I'm invading because I've got other enemies to support me, but people can avoid homing soul arrows and stuff too easily in a straight up 1v1 arena. Magic has always been good for PvE, at least.

I do not use a shield or weapon that is not a staff. My character's left hand always has binoculars assigned to it so I can aim my spells and, for defense, I just rely on quick rolling and movement.

@cloudymusic: I think the key to soloing the sinner as a pure int class (except for brightening the room) is to wait for her to commit to her 3 hit combos, I have like 13 adp, 21 atn and 30 int, and the faster cast ring from the merchant, and I had just enough time to either cast once or drink once after each 3 hit combo. I use the same shield by the way.

@fluxwavez: For me in PVP people have been using the homing soul arrow type spells to force me to waste stamina in a dodge when I close the distance. Then they hit me with a smaller spell during my roll recovery frames to break my poise and then hit me with a big spell. It's been my biggest trouble in PVP so far, but greatshields have also been problematic.

A SL 234 sorcerer here , for gargoyles always keep your distant then cast soul vortex ( you can get that spell from the hole in majula after getting the forgotten key ) , soul vortex will probably 1/2 shot each one of them , so if you kept following this pattern , you will endup winning the fight easily , same with Lost Sinner , IMO Soul vortex will be your best friend with many boss fights later on , so make sure to get it .

Magic requires stamina to use and any magic build should have less HP than a melee build, so if you just roll towards them (timed properly to avoid the spells), you're forcing the sorcerer to also roll, wasting their stamina and making for slower casts, giving you the time to hit them hard. If they don't have Homing Soulmass yet, you shouldn't be having too much trouble defeating a sorcerer in duels.

@fluxwavez: The last two sorcerer's I'd faced were in a location covered in water. Rushing them was too slow to force them to dodge. The sorcerer before that was on a narrow bridge, so he was able to control the spacing. It seems to me that smart sorcerers have been picking their spots.

@fluxwavez: That's definitely an interesting approach to take; will definitely make some bosses much harder and some areas much easier.

@fluxwavez: You should also be raising your faith for a sorcerer. To get the dark points up. Which makes your spells more powerful. At least to 20

@sterling: Faith will benefit sorceries and not just those dark spells that require Faith themselves? That's interesting; I wasn't aware of that.

Really? The narrow bridge is one of the places I hate the most to find myself in in PvP because there is nowhere for me to escape to, so even if my opponent rolls poorly enough to be hit by 2-3 arrows, they'll close the gap in no time and really mess me up.

@fluxwavez: Ya, all the wands or what ever they are called this time, they all have a scaling with dark. And faith raises the dark higher than INT does. I noticed this last night. I was getting 2-6 points of damage per faith level up.

@sterling: There are 2 types of wands/staves this time around.

1) int scaling only made for sorcerers. These types are uncommon and most players will use their starting one until they get the Staff of Amana followed shortly after by the best staff in the game from the Aerie that needs 50 int.

2) Int/Faith scaling designed for hexers. You can get a great version of this early on with 20/20 int/faith, but it requires wasting points in faith early when its hard to afford doing that. I am unsure on the scaling or base numbers, but at really high SL's (150+) the S scaling versions of these staves may be better for sorcerers then simply continuing to invest into Int, but I haven't looked into it much.

@silversaint: all of them have dark scaling according to the guide but one. So its good to level it up no matter what wand you are using. In fact the best wand in the game has A in INT and S in dark.

Remember that fire imbued weapons have their elemental damage scaled with int/faith, depending on the element. I've been making due with the fire long sword as a result even if most of my point are going into int and attunement.

I've started a staff and sword sorcerer and I'm really enjoying it so far. Leveling Faith and Intelligence so I can use all spell types, along with pyromancy. I'm also attempting to solo this run, because I'm first run I used a lot of summons.

@fluxwavez: I've screwed up some terminology. They are opening with homing soulmass type spells, not homing soul arrow. Most of the sorcerer's that I've seen are also using a greatshield. They haven't been backing off as much as it seems you are. Typically a 3 hit combo from my 2 handed BKH+5 will break through a small shield on the third hit and leave me with stamina for a dodge or a 4th hit. I can't break through a greatshield usually. Spending stamina to close the distance leaves me stuck with only a 2 hit combo so I need to back off as well.

Ah, then it's a different situation entirely. Like I said, once a sorcerer gains one of the first advanced sorceries with Homing Soulmass, it's a whole different situation because then they can actually control spacing properly. It's not possible to do that with individual arrows, even if they're of the homing variety. I don't use a shield, though, so I have to rely on quick rolls and running to dodge enemy attacks.

The more I play, the more powerful I get. The variety of spells you eventually can use are great. From things that make enemies fall down, to just crippling magic that catch people off guard(meaning not just you flinging an arrow at them). If anyone is finding the sorcerer rough at first, know it gets better, and definitely try everything, faith, pyromancy and int altogether. And don't skimp on the attunement.

You'll eventually demolish every boss, just a few opening will be all you need.

Just finished my playthrough as a sorcerer, my endgame stats were 50 INT/50 ATN/30 FTH/10 ATN and few points in VGR. Good times had, I felt like it was mostly quite a bit easier compared to my strength guy. It was kinda weird to play a Souls game without a shield, but you do just WRECK mobs and bosses in matter of seconds towards the end. Especially if you invest in Pyromancy as well.

e. Getting the Lion Mage armor set is a worthwhile investment as well, I think. Kinda crummy stats, but you get impved casting speed with every piece.