Dark Souls 3 - New Player Help Please
Discussion
Hi all.
I know this is a fairly old game and has been discussed on here before, but a little help would be appreciated. I asked for this game for Christmas, I know it's very difficult, I know I will continue to keep getting killed, but what I'd like is some assistance on how to progress.
So far I've just defeated the first boss, spent a bit of time in Firelink Shrine and also moved on to the High Wall of Lothric. I understand the idea of killing things, gaining souls and then using them to level up my skills or buy things. I'm a bit unsure about spells, but having started as a Pyromancer I assume that being able to throw fireballs is a spell.
How do I get further than endlessly killing the same old enemies at the High Wall? Right now I just seem to be in an loop of having them respawn when I need to go back to a bonfire and I'll never get anywhere near killing the boss thing if I've depleted all of my health flasks just to reach it.
Should I just be grinding away to gradually get to higher levels, and is it better weapons/strength/spells I should be concentrating on? Ideally I'd like to be able to kill everything at the High Wall without too much difficulty though I am least learning how/when to dodge the really dangerous characters.
There's also the tower key for 20,000 souls which will take me a long time to earn, but having read a fair amount it does seem that I should keep going and buy that key.
Perhaps it's spells I should be looking at rather than bigger swords and stronger shields? As mentioned above I don't really understand spells and the whole inventory/equipment/stats thing is rather overwhelming.
I love the game, I'll keep plugging away no matter what, and I know that a bit of advice from the experts on here will be mightily useful.
Thanks all.
I know this is a fairly old game and has been discussed on here before, but a little help would be appreciated. I asked for this game for Christmas, I know it's very difficult, I know I will continue to keep getting killed, but what I'd like is some assistance on how to progress.
So far I've just defeated the first boss, spent a bit of time in Firelink Shrine and also moved on to the High Wall of Lothric. I understand the idea of killing things, gaining souls and then using them to level up my skills or buy things. I'm a bit unsure about spells, but having started as a Pyromancer I assume that being able to throw fireballs is a spell.
How do I get further than endlessly killing the same old enemies at the High Wall? Right now I just seem to be in an loop of having them respawn when I need to go back to a bonfire and I'll never get anywhere near killing the boss thing if I've depleted all of my health flasks just to reach it.
Should I just be grinding away to gradually get to higher levels, and is it better weapons/strength/spells I should be concentrating on? Ideally I'd like to be able to kill everything at the High Wall without too much difficulty though I am least learning how/when to dodge the really dangerous characters.
There's also the tower key for 20,000 souls which will take me a long time to earn, but having read a fair amount it does seem that I should keep going and buy that key.
Perhaps it's spells I should be looking at rather than bigger swords and stronger shields? As mentioned above I don't really understand spells and the whole inventory/equipment/stats thing is rather overwhelming.
I love the game, I'll keep plugging away no matter what, and I know that a bit of advice from the experts on here will be mightily useful.
Thanks all.
For a beginner to the Souls games, I wouldn't recommend any caster class - Pyromancy and Sorcery are both difficult in that you have to keep an eye on your mana, and have to be far more careful around enemies as you're squishy.
Picking a melee class with armor will make the game feel far simpler to start with, and you'll be able to afford more mistakes.
If you want to advance quickly, I'd recommend accepting that you're going to die, and attempt to simply sprint past all the enemies, trying to find the next bonfire. Once you've got a few more bonfires LIT you'll have a bit more flexibility in what you can do, and where you can go.
Picking a melee class with armor will make the game feel far simpler to start with, and you'll be able to afford more mistakes.
If you want to advance quickly, I'd recommend accepting that you're going to die, and attempt to simply sprint past all the enemies, trying to find the next bonfire. Once you've got a few more bonfires LIT you'll have a bit more flexibility in what you can do, and where you can go.
Dark Souls 3 is an interesting place to start with the series, it's the easiest of the three imo so probably not a bad place for a beginner. I'd strongly advise starting again with a melee build instead of a pyromancer, it's just less to think about early on. I can't remember what I did for my build in DS3 but I know I pumped the stat that allows you to roll quickly while wearing heavy armour. By the end of the game I could do quick rolls in a full black knight set complete with the black knight ultra great sword, which is an incredibly heavy set to use.
Armour and shields are good but dodging attacks is better if you can, some enemies in the game are so strong that blocking their attacks will drain your stamina in no time at all even if you have a shield that can absorb 100% of their damage output. Better to dodge and attack while the enemy recovers from their missed attack.
You would be doing yourself a massive favor to watch a few "Beginners guide to Dark Souls" videos, or read some guides, as there is so much stuff to learn. When it comes to leveling up, I would just push and push until you meet the next boss, then use a nearby bonfire to farm enemies for spawns.
I would not bother power leveling (getting a lot of levels ahead of where you need to be) until later in the game. There are a couple of good farming spots where you can learn a ton of souls very quickly. One is in a swamp area where you'll come into a tower and the bonfire is directly behind a load of the goatmen creatures that inhabit the swamp, you can attack them from behind for an easily group kill, bonfire and reset, and if you ever die you're right next to the bonfire so it's practically impossible to lose your souls. Another good spot is later in the game in an icy city called Irithyll. Quite far into the city you'll come to a bonfire in a small castle area on the outskirts of the main city, where a few enemies spawn that each drop a lot of souls. you can farm these for a lot of souls very quickly. I farmed both these spots and the second one in particular set me up for the end game to point where I never really needed to farm souls to be strong enough to win, the souls I got from normal exploring were enough. There are some bits of equipment that give you bonus souls from killing enemies, these are worth equipping when grinding souls to speed the process up.
Armour and shields are good but dodging attacks is better if you can, some enemies in the game are so strong that blocking their attacks will drain your stamina in no time at all even if you have a shield that can absorb 100% of their damage output. Better to dodge and attack while the enemy recovers from their missed attack.
You would be doing yourself a massive favor to watch a few "Beginners guide to Dark Souls" videos, or read some guides, as there is so much stuff to learn. When it comes to leveling up, I would just push and push until you meet the next boss, then use a nearby bonfire to farm enemies for spawns.
I would not bother power leveling (getting a lot of levels ahead of where you need to be) until later in the game. There are a couple of good farming spots where you can learn a ton of souls very quickly. One is in a swamp area where you'll come into a tower and the bonfire is directly behind a load of the goatmen creatures that inhabit the swamp, you can attack them from behind for an easily group kill, bonfire and reset, and if you ever die you're right next to the bonfire so it's practically impossible to lose your souls. Another good spot is later in the game in an icy city called Irithyll. Quite far into the city you'll come to a bonfire in a small castle area on the outskirts of the main city, where a few enemies spawn that each drop a lot of souls. you can farm these for a lot of souls very quickly. I farmed both these spots and the second one in particular set me up for the end game to point where I never really needed to farm souls to be strong enough to win, the souls I got from normal exploring were enough. There are some bits of equipment that give you bonus souls from killing enemies, these are worth equipping when grinding souls to speed the process up.
The Pyromancer class is very good. It has access to strong pyromancies from the off and requires less investment than a comparable sorcerer. You can focus stats on the important stuff - endurance, stamina, strength and health, whilst maintaining the ability to cast a few good ranged spells and fire buffs. Equip the pyromancy flame in your offhand as you would a shield and you can use it to lob fireballs. Very, very useful for novice players.
The structure of the game is built around linking bonfires. Learn the area near one bonfire, explore and push on to find the next and take that as a checkpoint. Some bonfires are good power levelling spots but an understanding of the game mechanics will take you far further than mindlessly levelling.
The structure of the game is built around linking bonfires. Learn the area near one bonfire, explore and push on to find the next and take that as a checkpoint. Some bonfires are good power levelling spots but an understanding of the game mechanics will take you far further than mindlessly levelling.
Very useful information, thank you. I do like the ability to chuck fireballs, it makes it easy to pick of some pretty tough enemies, so I'll stick with my guy for now.
I'll keep in mind the idea of restarting though, and I strongly suspect that I'll want to play through again when I finish the game (in August at this rate...).
I'll keep in mind the idea of restarting though, and I strongly suspect that I'll want to play through again when I finish the game (in August at this rate...).
Pyro isn't a bad class to start off with I don't think (it was the one I took for my first playthrough, but I went into DS3 as a longtime Souls veteran). However, if you do want to restart, Mercenary is by far the most powerful class as it starts with insanely powerful Sellsword Twinblades. Ultimately though, class only really affects your early game; any class can use anything in the game just by levelling up correctly. Far more important than anything else really is your own learning; really getting the feel of the combat system until bit by bit it becomes more instinct than decision. This might be some very questionable advice, so feel free to disregard it if it ends up hurting your experience, but if I could give just one suggestion, it would be this: do not use shields. Ever. For anything. Don't even equip one. This might seem like it makes the game far harder at first, but shields will teach you bad habits that you have to unlearn when facing enemies you simply cannot block (and there are PLENTY of these, especially bosses). The Souls games are all about developing skills, and trying to block attacks rather than dodge them will only slow that down.
I would also suggest not leaning too heavily on spells until later in the game. While it was possible to do more spell focused characters in the first two Souls games, DS3 discourages it greatly. Since casters need to split their flasks between ashen and estus, you are forced to either run with very little healing or very few casts. Until you get more flasks and better spells, I would advise focusing on your normal weapons. Relatedly, your Weapon Level generally matters more than Soul Level. If you haven't already, I'd advise trying to get your main weapon to +3 (don't worry about using up your Titanite Shards, they become very common later in the game). Play around with different weapons and find one with a moveset you like - that matters far more than the damage numbers it has.
In terms of making progress, I have two main pieces of advice. Firstly: look for shortcuts. Just about every level has shortcuts that, once unlocked, allow you to skip back to where you've gotten to. If a door ever tells you that it "cannot be opened from this side", it's almost certainly a shortcut that you can unlock by getting to the other side. Often, shortcuts will allow you to practically skip directly to a boss' door. Secondly: remember that most enemies are slower than you. This is something that often passes new players by, but your character travelling at full sprint is faster than 90% of enemies in the game. If you know where you're going and how to get there, you can often get from A to B without stopping to fight a single enemy. It might also help to know that touching boss fog, a closed door, a lever, a bonfire, etc. usually makes you invulnerable until the animation finishes. This can all be invaluable when facing a boss, as avoiding fights can save you valuable estus.
A few more general tips:
>Consider which direction you roll as well as how you time it. Try to roll through an attack, not with it. If an enemy thrusts or slams in front of them, roll to the side. If they swing in an arc, roll towards the side it starts from. Try not to roll backwards too much; it makes it harder to punish their attacks.
>Footwork matters! Strafing direction, spacing from an enemy and the position you take relative to them can all make a subtle but significant difference to a fight. This is something you'll figure out as you get more experienced, but just keep it in mind, especially with bosses.
>I wouldn't recommend buying the tower key until 20,000 souls is a less significant number.
>Talk to every NPC you meet until they run out of new things to say. Often they'll tell you something important, or give you something new.
Ultimately however, playing Dark Souls is about finding what works for you! There are 100 "correct" ways to play the game, and some (or all!) of what I've said might not work for you at all. The most important advice I can give it to try new things and new strategies, always. Pick up every new weapon you find and swing it around, just to see if you like it. Finally, don't be afraid to make mistakes; they're almost never permanent and that's how you learn!
I hope some of this helped. I love the whole series (as you might've noticed :P) and I hope you can get into it too. Feel free to ask if you've got any more questions!
I would also suggest not leaning too heavily on spells until later in the game. While it was possible to do more spell focused characters in the first two Souls games, DS3 discourages it greatly. Since casters need to split their flasks between ashen and estus, you are forced to either run with very little healing or very few casts. Until you get more flasks and better spells, I would advise focusing on your normal weapons. Relatedly, your Weapon Level generally matters more than Soul Level. If you haven't already, I'd advise trying to get your main weapon to +3 (don't worry about using up your Titanite Shards, they become very common later in the game). Play around with different weapons and find one with a moveset you like - that matters far more than the damage numbers it has.
In terms of making progress, I have two main pieces of advice. Firstly: look for shortcuts. Just about every level has shortcuts that, once unlocked, allow you to skip back to where you've gotten to. If a door ever tells you that it "cannot be opened from this side", it's almost certainly a shortcut that you can unlock by getting to the other side. Often, shortcuts will allow you to practically skip directly to a boss' door. Secondly: remember that most enemies are slower than you. This is something that often passes new players by, but your character travelling at full sprint is faster than 90% of enemies in the game. If you know where you're going and how to get there, you can often get from A to B without stopping to fight a single enemy. It might also help to know that touching boss fog, a closed door, a lever, a bonfire, etc. usually makes you invulnerable until the animation finishes. This can all be invaluable when facing a boss, as avoiding fights can save you valuable estus.
A few more general tips:
>Consider which direction you roll as well as how you time it. Try to roll through an attack, not with it. If an enemy thrusts or slams in front of them, roll to the side. If they swing in an arc, roll towards the side it starts from. Try not to roll backwards too much; it makes it harder to punish their attacks.
>Footwork matters! Strafing direction, spacing from an enemy and the position you take relative to them can all make a subtle but significant difference to a fight. This is something you'll figure out as you get more experienced, but just keep it in mind, especially with bosses.
>I wouldn't recommend buying the tower key until 20,000 souls is a less significant number.
>Talk to every NPC you meet until they run out of new things to say. Often they'll tell you something important, or give you something new.
Ultimately however, playing Dark Souls is about finding what works for you! There are 100 "correct" ways to play the game, and some (or all!) of what I've said might not work for you at all. The most important advice I can give it to try new things and new strategies, always. Pick up every new weapon you find and swing it around, just to see if you like it. Finally, don't be afraid to make mistakes; they're almost never permanent and that's how you learn!
I hope some of this helped. I love the whole series (as you might've noticed :P) and I hope you can get into it too. Feel free to ask if you've got any more questions!
Thank you for such a long reply. Very informative.
I'm pleased that you suggest not to bother with shields as I've already decided that they are a lot less effective than running away! And yes, I had also worked out that I can outrun most enemies.
Early on it seemed I should try and kill absolutely every enemy but just running past seems to be a perfectly reasonable thing to do.
So far, and I'm at the point in the Lothric Wall level where I run across a roof for the first time, all I've used is fireballs and the axe I started with. I must look at how to get the +3 thing referred to. I must also look at other spells.
Great game though, I'm getting the idea and will reach the end one day. I'd like there to have been a few more secret areas and I do miss having a map.
No doubt I will be back asking questions, and with 20 hours playing and only at the first proper level, there's a very long way to go.
I'm pleased that you suggest not to bother with shields as I've already decided that they are a lot less effective than running away! And yes, I had also worked out that I can outrun most enemies.
Early on it seemed I should try and kill absolutely every enemy but just running past seems to be a perfectly reasonable thing to do.
So far, and I'm at the point in the Lothric Wall level where I run across a roof for the first time, all I've used is fireballs and the axe I started with. I must look at how to get the +3 thing referred to. I must also look at other spells.
Great game though, I'm getting the idea and will reach the end one day. I'd like there to have been a few more secret areas and I do miss having a map.
No doubt I will be back asking questions, and with 20 hours playing and only at the first proper level, there's a very long way to go.
Interesting advice not to use a shield. I always use a shield but then I consider there to be compelling reasons to do so, especially in Dark Souls 3 where there are some really good shields.
My basic DS3 build was a Pyromancer with the Shield of Want and the Executioner Greatsword, wearing very strong armour with no movement penalty. The shield blocks all physical damage and boosts souls gained on kills. The sword is a great weapon in it's own right and restores FP on killing so it effectively powers the Pyromancer engine. I never relied on the pyromancy spells but it was always useful to have them to hand, particularly the ability to buff the sword with flame for extra damage. Some of the other shields are excellent too. The Grass Crest Shield paired with a Chloranthy ring makes you a powerhouse of stamina, and the Dragonslayer Greatshield is the key to destroying the Nameless King.
Shields are less useful in PVP, where attack speed, stamina and connection rules over everything else and in general, boss attacks in PVE should be dodged rather than blocked, but in terms of reliably trashing the game, shields rock. If you want to try a two hander build though, DS3 is probably the easiest Dark Souls game to do it in as it's the easiest DS game and the character movement is far quicker than in previous games (plus the enemies don't have the ability to track you during an attack animation quite like they could in DS2). However, I wouldn't play Bloodborne with a shield!
OP, I would suggest that you search high and low for estus shards. There are quite a few available relatively early and every shard affords you one more flask at the bonfire, provided you give them to the firelink shrine blacksmith.
There is nothing to go wrong in the game, really, so you might as well just get stuck in. Revisit the firelink shrine after every boss as that is generally when new characters and dialogue will trigger, which presents opportunities to progress character sidequests (you won't complete all of these the first time around). If you power level to excess you may struggle to find local player summons but by then, you'll be so over-levelled that you'll flatten the boss anyway.
My basic DS3 build was a Pyromancer with the Shield of Want and the Executioner Greatsword, wearing very strong armour with no movement penalty. The shield blocks all physical damage and boosts souls gained on kills. The sword is a great weapon in it's own right and restores FP on killing so it effectively powers the Pyromancer engine. I never relied on the pyromancy spells but it was always useful to have them to hand, particularly the ability to buff the sword with flame for extra damage. Some of the other shields are excellent too. The Grass Crest Shield paired with a Chloranthy ring makes you a powerhouse of stamina, and the Dragonslayer Greatshield is the key to destroying the Nameless King.
Shields are less useful in PVP, where attack speed, stamina and connection rules over everything else and in general, boss attacks in PVE should be dodged rather than blocked, but in terms of reliably trashing the game, shields rock. If you want to try a two hander build though, DS3 is probably the easiest Dark Souls game to do it in as it's the easiest DS game and the character movement is far quicker than in previous games (plus the enemies don't have the ability to track you during an attack animation quite like they could in DS2). However, I wouldn't play Bloodborne with a shield!
OP, I would suggest that you search high and low for estus shards. There are quite a few available relatively early and every shard affords you one more flask at the bonfire, provided you give them to the firelink shrine blacksmith.
There is nothing to go wrong in the game, really, so you might as well just get stuck in. Revisit the firelink shrine after every boss as that is generally when new characters and dialogue will trigger, which presents opportunities to progress character sidequests (you won't complete all of these the first time around). If you power level to excess you may struggle to find local player summons but by then, you'll be so over-levelled that you'll flatten the boss anyway.
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