Dark Souls 2

Ohkae

2014-03-30 04:50:59 pm

Sorry I meant BKH+3 would be viable in the second route. I'm on my phone and it's messing up with me :/

Nanoscripter

2014-03-30 11:44:48 pm

You're pretty good...

i tested out the old whip. might be good if you think 2 hand r1 attack with 234 is good for a start. i had just enough souls after dragonrider to get my dex to 19 so we need one more level. a bit out of the way but the base damage is 233 i think.

sshplur

2014-03-30 11:57:47 pm

Even if the other play styles, Pyro, Sorcery and stuff, aren't viable they'll still be a great watch. Those DS1 Sorcery, Pyro and lvl 1 speedruns were fucking incredible and shoutouts to the Japanese runner/s who went out of their way to plan those. I'm playing around with sorcery atm, as inspired by said runs, so we'll see how that goes. Pumping one of the bonfires to farm one more Soul Geyser sounds cool but that's not happening with the SoW skip. It's also so late in the game so I'll keep scratching my chin over that.

Yeah this is totally unrelated to what all you guys are doing .__.

Castanova

Edit history:

Castanova: 2014-03-31 10:45:10 am

2014-03-31 10:43:59 am

Why is everyone focused on 1.0? I feel like using the latest codebase is better in the long run. Less fragmentation of the community, lower barrier to entry for new runners, and it relies less on exploiting specific bugs that have been fixed.

Plus, once the PC version comes out, I doubt it'll be equivalent to the console 1.0.

General_Beatrix

2014-03-31 12:07:06 pm

Because people are having fun playing 1.0, that's all there is to it

Noobest

2014-04-01 05:33:55 pm

Fastest version.

In other news I managed somewhat decent run with the route previously described:

KaeLynne

Edit history:

KaeLynne: 2014-04-02 12:29:16 pm

KaeLynne: 2014-04-02 12:17:13 pm

KaeLynne: 2014-04-02 12:16:49 pm

KaeLynne: 2014-04-02 12:10:51 pm

2014-04-02 12:05:26 pm

grats on the run Noobest. Sub 1 may be possible.
So for any% 1.0 I have some rough ideas.

I'm thinking about picking swordsman due to high dex start.
For the first level up (after killing dragon rider twice) 3 to VIG to survive fall damage on the way to the gutter, None to STR since I think it's enough to 2 hand the BKH (I think) and the rest goes to dex. Stop at level 32.
Buy the shield. !I'm thinking on skipping the shield since I think I only used it once in my run, and that was on throne defender/watcher. If the shield is skipped, lifegems can be bought with the 2000 souls.

This is enough to 2 hand the BKH and have a little extra damage.
I thought about getting a little extra damage because the guys at the front of the castle are so hard to kill in one stamina bar. They live with such little HP, and if they don't die I usually die seconds later since he attacks back or I get gang banged. I think this will make opening the castle door a bit easier with the extra damage boost. Also dying at that spot is so bad since it loses about 3-4 mins each time.

It's just an idea that I have.

grats on the run Noobest.  Sub 1 may be possible.
So for any% 1.0 I have some rough ideas.

I'm thinking about picking swordsman due to high dex start.
For the first level up (after killing dragon rider twice) 3 to VIG  to survive fall damage on the way to the gutter, None to STR since I think it's enough to 2 hand the BKH (I think) and the rest goes to dex.  Stop at level 32.
Buy the shield.  !I'm thinking on skipping the shield since I think I only used it once in my run, and that was on throne defender/watcher. If the shield is skipped, lifegems can be bought with the 2000 souls.

This is enough to 2 hand the BKH and have a little extra damage. 
I thought about getting a little extra damage because the guys at the front of the castle are so hard to kill in one stamina bar. They live with such little HP, and if they don't die I usually die seconds later since he attacks back or I get gang banged. I think this will make opening the castle door a bit easier with the extra damage boost. Also dying at that spot is so bad since it loses about 3-4 mins each time.

It's just an idea that I have.

Stormknight

2014-04-02 01:18:29 pm

Now Reap The Whirlwind!

I don't think that skipping the shield would be the best idea. Yeah, rolling is the best way to avoid damage, but the shield helps give you a buffer just in case.
Dying at the castle gates is very easy and very common. There isn't really an easy method to do it. With the BKH, you have to make sure you hit them where it will do the most damage. If you fail, then you had better run and get lucky if you want to survive. (Also, where would this extra damage boost come from?)
On starting as swordsman, I'm not entirely sure on that. Hopefully someone else can give an opinion on that.

KaeLynne

Edit history:

KaeLynne: 2014-04-02 01:30:14 pm

2014-04-02 01:29:49 pm

the boost will come the B scaling (dex) from the BKH. I know it's not much at all, but it's putting every stat point to use I guess. This run will be all 2 handing the BKH so I don't really see a need to put anything into STR to be able to one hand the BKH, but that's just my opinion.
Well Swordsman has 2 points higher in END and one more point in ADP. It's probably not going to make any difference but I'll take whatever I can get in this run.

VincentX9

2014-04-03 08:08:14 pm

@Kaelynne - I think this is not a bad idea, obviously it will make the skill cap harder since you get rid of the shield. Maybe an optimal boss fight can be slightly faster with the extra damage and since your stam is slightly higher it can save frames on running or recovering from attacking. It really just depends on how much those extra points do for you, and how much time you're willing to spend on a harder, but possibly faster maximized run. Either way, I think it's a smart idea.

KaeLynne

Edit history:

KaeLynne: 2014-04-04 02:37:10 am

KaeLynne: 2014-04-04 02:35:56 am

KaeLynne: 2014-04-04 12:40:36 am

KaeLynne: 2014-04-04 12:23:04 am

KaeLynne: 2014-04-04 12:07:49 am

KaeLynne: 2014-04-04 12:07:25 am

2014-04-04 12:06:00 am

Using power stance clubs makes the mirror knight easier/faster since he can be staggered while summoning. So skipping purchasing the shield is a better choice now since those souls can be used to buy 2 clubs from the hag before doing the last giant skip. To powerstance the clubs 18 str is needed.

Oh, also picking up the lifegems (20) in the gutter is a must! They are located behind the ladder just right before dropping down into black gulch. It is a corpse in an urn.

I am also thinking about getting a +3 BKH in a run. I think this is viable since I will do my second level up at the bonfire after mirror knight and it's possible to upgrade it to +3 at that point. I would have 2 extra twinkling titanite. I need 1 more to get to +3.
First twinkling would be in shaded woods. Second would be in mirror knight hallway.

I'm thinking of killing the sentry before the shrine of winter in order to get the twinkling. Easy to kill if the ballsack guys aren't in the fight. The strategy would be facing the sentry 1v1 by killing off the ball sack guys first.
That's about the most efficient way to get another twinkling as far as I know. I'd like to know what you guys think.

Using power stance clubs makes the mirror knight easier/faster since he can be staggered while summoning. So skipping  purchasing the shield is a better choice now since those souls can be used to buy 2 clubs from the hag before doing the last giant skip. To powerstance the clubs 18 str is needed.

Oh, also picking up the lifegems (20) in the gutter is a must! They are located behind the ladder just right before dropping down into black gulch. It is a corpse in an urn.

I am also thinking about getting a +3 BKH in a run. I think this is viable since I will do my second level up at the bonfire after mirror knight and it's possible to upgrade it to +3 at that point. I would have 2 extra twinkling titanite. I need 1 more to get to +3.
First twinkling would be in shaded woods. Second would be in mirror knight hallway.

I'm thinking of killing the sentry before the shrine of winter in order to get the twinkling. Easy to kill if the ballsack guys aren't in the fight. The strategy would be facing the sentry 1v1 by killing off the ball sack guys first.
That's about the most efficient way to get another twinkling as far as I know. I'd like to know what you guys think.

161803398874989

2014-04-04 02:00:37 am

MATHEMATICS

2 handing only doubles your strength; it does nothing for DEX.

KaeLynne

2014-04-04 02:36:01 am

yea wow, I read that somewhere before and took it completely different. I thought it halves all the required stats. Well, that sucks.

sshplur

2014-04-04 01:54:03 pm

It'll be a helluva run to attempt, going with a much more aggressive and risky build. I was thinking the same thing and have been playing around with it specifically to drop the assholes at the castle gates in two hits without relying on the BKH's blade. Anyways, goodluck with that. The nerfed i-frames will really test your reactions. Thank god you don't have to fight the Smelter Demon.

There's still a lot of testing to do with this run but we'll see how much benefit extra Dex will provide.

KaeLynne

Edit history:

KaeLynne: 2014-04-06 02:51:09 am

2014-04-06 02:50:20 am

I've tested a run with a BKH+2 before the castle and it's much much easier to kill the guys at the doors. They die in 2 hits with the sweetspot dmg. It also makes the castle easier to get through. I think a bkh+2 would be faster despite the extra trip to upgrade.

Also the flexile sentry is very easy to kill with a BKH+2 so getting it to +3 would take ~10 seconds (sentry kill) but the extra damage will definitely make up for the time and save more time in the future boss fights.

Fhyber

2014-04-06 05:15:44 am

It costs 3 twinkling to go from a +2 BKH to a +3 BKH, are you saying the sentry drops 3 twinklies?

KaeLynne

2014-04-06 12:58:31 pm

no, the first twinkling would be in shaded woods in the cave, the second one is killing the sentry and the third one is in the hallway before the mirror knight fog wall. They are convenient to get since none of them are really out of the way. I forgot to add the killing of the ballsack guys before killing the sentry so it would actually take about ~30 seconds to get the twinkling from the sentry which I still think is a good pick up in my opinion.

Stormknight

2014-04-06 01:56:04 pm

Now Reap The Whirlwind!

This route has some merit. I'd like to see a full runthrough of it at some point.

Kaelynne

2014-04-06 03:24:02 pm

Yea, I think it's the most entertaining category and definitely the hardest. There already has been full runs of it. Noobest, distortion2 have recorded runs. Vincentx9 also runs the category using a cleric. I'm also going to try and run it but I don't have the time to practice much at the moment so I'm just trying to do a bit of routing.

Stormknight

2014-04-06 06:29:34 pm

Now Reap The Whirlwind!

I know people have been running it. I want to see these new ideas that are being discussed put into a run. That's what I meant

Soliduz Znake

Edit history:

Soliduz Znake: 2014-04-07 01:36:11 pm

Soliduz Znake: 2014-04-07 01:36:01 pm

2014-04-07 01:35:48 pm

would the regular halberd be good for speed running instead of the BKH? if reinforced to +10 it would deal 350 damage, weighs 6.0 that is 2 times less than the BKH, 70 durability that is more than the BKH by 10. it requires 20 Strength that is more than BKH by 2 but requires 14 Dexterity that is less than BKH by 4. you can pick it up of a dead body on the large sword statue near the fog leading to Last Giant boss in Forrest of Fallen Giants.

Kaelynne

2014-04-07 03:06:58 pm

getting the halberd to +10 would be a problem since it will take more time to get the materials. 10 shards from black smith. chunks from ... the material girl from harvest valley but that takes a while. a chunk and a slab on the way to the castle.I don't think you'd be able to get the halberd to +10 without investing too much time. I don't know how the damage compares to the BKH. Can't really trust the numbers in dark souls since there are a lot of factors. Getting the BKH to +2/+3 is quick and easy since the twinkling titanites are on the way or around the way. The weight doesn't matter since the character will be naked and will have the fastest roll speed with both weapons. But I'm just speculating, if you do try a halberd run I'd like to see how it works out.

Fhyber

2014-04-08 05:16:45 am

After further testing we believe the rapier to be the way to go for the rotten, that or just straight maces, damage difference between BKH and them isn't big enough to be worth wasting all the time getting it and twinklies.

JohnnyKevlar

2014-04-09 09:44:53 am

Found a way to freeze the old iron king using bonfire ascetics. Despite being much easier, if there is faith remaining in the old iron king million souls route then this certainly helps.

Noobest

2014-04-10 08:13:58 pm

Just got a 1:08:23 with slightly modified version of Vincent's faith route for 1.00. That was with 10 deaths and my sum of best is below 1h by several minutes. This route has huge potential. The warps you need to make get made up easily by the fast boss fights GRS provides.

The things I changed compared to Vincent's route were:
1. Pushed the faith lady off the platform after buying LS for the extra souls and the chime you get from her.
2. Leveled up faith to 28 instead of 30, attunement to 16 and int to 5. This allows you to get one extra cast of lightning spear before the castle so you only need to use your mace once in the double Dragonrider fight.
3. Skipped the last soul in Drangleic Castle, also skipping the bonfire before Dragonriders.
4. Used the twinkling from the arrow room to upgrade Idol's chime to +1 when going back before Mirror Knight.
5. Leveled up int to 20, talked to Felkin after buying GRS to get Hexer's hood, which increases your casts by 1 and also gives 1 faith and 1 int.

That's pretty much it, you can also grab the crimson waters in Shrine of Amana behind the first hut to be able to skip some bonfires later on. Though my runs are nowhere near optimized enough for that to be necessary just yet.

Just got a 1:08:23 with slightly modified version of Vincent's faith route for 1.00. That was with 10 deaths and my sum of best is below 1h by several minutes. This route has huge potential. The warps you need to make get made up easily by the fast boss fights GRS provides.

The things I changed compared to Vincent's route were:
1. Pushed the faith lady off the platform after buying LS for the extra souls and the chime you get from her.
2. Leveled up faith to 28 instead of 30, attunement to 16 and int to 5. This allows you to get one extra cast of lightning spear before the castle so you only need to use your mace once in the double Dragonrider fight.
3. Skipped the last soul in Drangleic Castle, also skipping the bonfire before Dragonriders.
4. Used the twinkling from the arrow room to upgrade Idol's chime to +1 when going back before Mirror Knight.
5. Leveled up int to 20, talked to Felkin after buying GRS to get Hexer's hood, which increases your casts by 1 and also gives 1 faith and 1 int.

That's pretty much it, you can also grab the crimson waters in Shrine of Amana behind the first hut to be able to skip some bonfires later on. Though my runs are nowhere near optimized enough for that to be necessary just yet.