@mirado: It's a small statue that's outdoors, right?

@csl316: Yep, the one that is on the outside loop. And looks like there is no reason for it to be there.

@csl316: Correct. You can also return there later after killing a Drakeblood Knight to pick up their armor set.

Only thing I noticed that was new(Besides the +1/2 rings) in NG+ was that if you have both the twin prince weapons, they can be combined into a new Greatsword.

I've been messing around with weapon types I don't normally use in Souls games and I'm in LOVE with Arstor's Spear.

I've made a dex build using that weapon, Lloyd's Sword Ring, Lloyd's Shield Ring, and Ring of the Evil Eye. Basically how it works is using Arstor's Spear and Ring of the Evil Eye I stay at full health as much as possible because of the healing, I gain the bonus damage from the sword ring, and I take less damage from any first big hit I take with the shield ring which makes me have to heal less to get back up to full health. I barely have to use estus if I'm doing co-op with a friend because I get healed from enemies they kill too!

I'm sure I could refine it down more especially since the Shield ring only gives bonus absorb, not resistance. Suggestions would be great because I friggin love this build. Maybe the Leo ring? I used it a little bit but counterattack windows in this game are really short and 15% isn't a huge bonus.

@frostyryan: I think summoning the firekeeper is what got you that ending. I wound up with the lord of hollows ending just by getting the eight dark sigils, and at the end pressing x to "link the fire". Kind of weird that the game doesn't say something like "usurp the fire" if you are set to get that ending.

@frostyryan: Did you marry Anri of Astora? I think that is one of the major parts of getting that ending.

I think I've beaten everyone besides the final boss at this point. The final optional area was very cool. That first boss there is very simple once you know the trick and gives out a huge amount of souls. I spent a lot of time these last couple of days just helping people out to increase my levels and covenant allegiance.

Details:

I spent those levels on attunement slots and Faith after going most of the game as dexterity/strength, and I am now able to use every magic besides sorcery over... 15, I believe. I like miracles more than pyromancy. The lightning attacks seem pitifully weak, but the buffs are convenient.

@roninenix: That's awesome! I don't particularly care for adding harder/different fights in NG+ like in Dark Souls 2 (it would make the game feel a little fresher sure) but stuff like this is what gets me interested in NG+.

@frostyryan: I gave the firekeeper the eyes and still got the lord of hollows ending, you just have to not summon the firekeeper and instead interact with the bonfire that shows up after the final boss fight.

Spear build update? Guessing most people know about this weapon but very few seem to use it.

Dragonslayer Swordspear is a pretty good weapon. The weapon art hits like a truck. Was sun broing the Princes to max the covenent and the lightning strike was hitting for ~1000. It also seemed to randomly hit the boss a second time for a little less? I could have just been imagining it but I would see the 1000 damage then a split second later another 860 damage would pop up when nobody else was near the boss.

But yeah, super long range, good damage, and the two-handed R1's seem to give you a ton of poise in PvP.

@strangestories: I respecced into dex/faith to use the swordspear recently. I'm not sure what to make of it. I'm at 40 dex/43? faith and it feels like although my damage against mobs is good I'm not hitting other players very hard - the most common number I'm seeing is 155, and it's at +5!

@latinkon: weird, I did pvp with it and the lightning strike was hitting players for 450-500. Buffed after the weapon art, R1's hit players for like 300+. Without the weapon art it hits for a little more than 250.

I'm at 40 dex and 30 faith with an AR of 456 without buffing rings.

Are you using it mainly one-handed? Because the two-handed moveset is much better and the main perk of it is the range and the poise you get when doing that.

Edit: btw putting tons of levels into faith just for the weapon is a bad idea. If you're using miracles then cool but the Lightning damage scaling is piss-poor. At 30 faith it gets like...+16 AR. Strength on the other hand adds 2-3 AR per point despite the D scaling

@strangestories: Oh, no, I'm talking about the weapon itself. The lightning bolt does a stupid amount of damage, but my one-handed R1 in particular is pathetic. The R2s on both movesets have good hitboxes, but holy shit they're so slow. Like, greathammer slow to windup, it feels like. My high faith is indeed for miracles (though given the godawful damage of Sunlight Spear, I'm reconsidering that).

I kind of feel like I have to use it one-handed a lot of the time because the one-handed R1 poke is just much easier to land and tracks better than the overhead R1 of the two-handed moveset. I almost think the Dragonslayer spear was more my speed.

@latinkon: I think it's a bit faster than ultra weapons but not by a ton. I think they're more on par with greatswords but unbuffed it hits for maybe 50-100 less. What you sacrifice in damage, though, you gain in the weapon's two-handed range which is ridiculous. I haven't tested but the only weapons that outrange it might be lances and a few spears?

I still think getting used to the two-handed move set is your best bet if you want to stick with the weapon because that's where it really shines. It lacks the trademark range when one-handed which is outclassed by most spears. It's just got a really varied moveset too which throws a lot of people off.

Strategy-wise, I start with the weapon art to see if they know about it; if they get hit I running attack them while they're stunned. Otherwise I get people to roll with the the first (overhead slash) R1 then hit them with the second (horizontal slash) R1 then R2 if they try and trade. Or I do a running R1 into whatever feels best.

@strangestories: I'm on my way to get the boss soul to get that. I got the the miracle the last time around. I keep getting destroyed by it in pvp. So now I want one, lol.

@sterling: I first saw it in a PvP'ers youtube video and couldn't get over how cool it was. Surprisingly I haven't actually fought anyone else using it. The other weapon you can get from his soul has been much more common because it was (or maybe still is) actually broken because of its weapon art.

@strangestories: I don't think I've seen anyone using the Storm Curved Sword. Or do you mean the Dragonslayer Greataxe, because I see everyone and their brother using that thing. And it is very OP. Hits for like 1000+ damage with the art.

@sterling: Storm Curved Sword. Alternating between the R1 and weapon art could chain stun people in pvp. Basically if you caught them in it, you could keep spinning and hitting them until your stamina/FP ran out but most people died before that happened. Here's a video of it (you'll have to copy/paste since I'm on my phone and can't do a real link):

http://youtu.be/jFc3g7kk9pY

@sterling: Holy shit, don't even talk about the DSG. It's like the strength equivalent of the estoc. I don't know if anyone else has noticed, but if it hits you once it stuns you long enough (like a full second!) for you to get hit a second time, and considering a good hit takes off about a third of my HP... yeah.

@strangestories: Thanks for the advice, I'll give the two-handed form another whack and see if that improves the odds for me.

I finished yesterday and am just cleaning up before going into NG+

Very much enjoyed the Nameless King fight, 2 totally different phases is a treat. I wasn't paying much attention to the lore but upon getting the armour it all clicked. Very cool. The flat texture of the arena totally messes with perspective and distance during phase 1 - not sure if it was intentional but definitely added to the challenge.

As for the ending, I handed over the eyes, summoned the fire keeper and then during the cutscene where she has the flame in her hand, the camera panned behind me and I was like huh am I in control, and hit R1. What happened next was pretty brutal. Fairly happy with it. The game then asks if you want to continue to Journey 2 and I said no, it dumps me back at firelink with the firekeeper there still talking about being summoned. Ruins the impact somewhat. Can I go back to the Kiln and do the ending again? Also there was no trophy for doing any of it which I found odd.

I used the Heavy Dark Sword for most of the game. It uses so little stamina to swing, but does pretty high damage. Downside is the range, but you can stagger enemies with repeated hits, including most of the humanoid bosses. I even staggered the Nameless King's dragon and got a critical shot on it. For NG+ I'm gonna switch to something with a more interesting moveset I think, maybe the Wolf Sword & dagger, the butcher's knife or another boss weapon, like Gundyr's halberd.

Anyone have any recommendations for some fun Strength weapons? I have 40 str and 25 Int. And anything to do before jumping into NG+? What do you lose?

From a Trophy Guide walkthrough: "There is a trick you can do during the last 8 seconds of the cutscene where you can attack the Firekeeper. Do not do this, as it'll give you a different ending and the trophy will not unlock."

There are three ending trophies, you were on the path to one of them.

@strainedeyes: Wonderful. I wonder how many other people will get that ending then? I'm not fully sure of the implications of it, although I have to say I did regret it almost immediately.

Strange that it doesn't come with a trophy, I guess a value judgement on behalf of the developers as to what a shitty Ashen One you have been.

Do stats change at all in ng+? for example I have 40Dex/30Strength at the moment, if I played through ng+ would I be able to get another two stats that high? do weapon stat requirements change at all? I've pretty much maxed my current sword in terms of damage from scaling and upgrades so unless stat caps or upgrade caps or something like that changes would my damage for that weapon basically be constant throughout ng+? Or maybe I'm being completely dumb and do stats and weapons get wiped?

I kinda hate that ending but there's also something really appealing about it narratively. It's the one option that feels like you've done something that the shitty world of Dark Souls hasn't accounted for.

@hark: You take your exact same character in, stats and everything. You lose any key items you have, but keep everything else. If you want to infuse any weapons or buy anything from the merchants do it before you go into NG+, because their inventories reset.

Annoyingly, Estus and Bone Shards are out in the world so you can pick up excess ones and have nothing to do with them. Also, friendly giants stay friendly. Steamed through Abyss Walkers at the first attempt. NG+ definitely scales similarly to Dark Souls where the first half seems nice and breezy.

I finished the game yesterday, and for some reason, I thought the ending would be a little more elaborate, but nope! It answered virtually none of the questions I had about Londor or Lothric's royal family, specifically Gertrude. It's weird that she [Gertrude] is referenced by the Shrine Handmaiden (the one in the Untended Graves) and possibly the Firekeeper, yet we know nothing about her, aside from the fact that she might be the queen's daughter and that she founded a new religion. I don't know, but I feel like the lore in this game is a bit lean. It's true that they answer some of the lingering questions from Dark Souls, but it seems like the game leaves more questions unanswered than even Dark Souls 2. I think the DLC for this game has to be as dense as The Old Hunters when it comes to lore.

All I wanted was a world gone dark. I've got that.

@asilentprotagonist: A Yu Yu Hakusho pic in the second post? Fuck yes!

I beat the Dancer, went down, beat Oceiros, and now I'm going up. I found a boss door but haven't tried it yet. How much more of this game do I have to go? I feel like I've gotta be near the end.

Three main bosses, I believe. There's a couple optional ones, too.

"If only I could be so grossly incandescent"

You guys remember when Solaire went crazy in Lost Izalith because of a parasite on his head?...

funny, its face almost looks like the symbol of the sun from Solaire's armor.

Ah yes, the "Solaire turned into the giant worm" theory. Probably one of, if not the most, ridiculous fan theories I've ever heard. Yellow Bug Pellet description kinda shoots a hole in that one.

There's erm... a timeline video which seems to suggest Gwyn never knew Gwyndolin before he went off to torch himself. Be warned. This is lengthy but interesting.

It took me 72.5 hours to get through the game the first time. I linked the fire with my quality/faith character which is my prefered build by far, going all the way back to Demon's Souls.

The leveling differences between Dark Souls 2 and 3 was surprising to me. In DS 2 I reached the endgame around level 200, with a level costing 68,000 souls at that point. In DS 3 I reached the endgame around level 110, with a level costing 75,000 souls. This kind of screwed my build a bit because I was nowhere near the soft caps in some of my stats before the endgame. In fact, those stats were exactly half of the soft cap so I'm guessing From wants you to continue to build your character into NG+.

There was something different about the ultra greatswords, too. Zweihander was my main weapon in DS and DS 2, but I couldn't get it to work for me in DS 3. I don't know if it's been slowed down, or if the enemies are faster, or if it doesn't stagger as easily, or if it uses more stamina - I'm not sure. I had to go with the claymore / sunlight straight sword combo instead which worked out fine, but I still miss my Zweihander.

I really enjoyed all the bosses. Pontiff Sulyvahn is my favorite to fight. I Sunbro'd him probably a dozen times. The Dancer of Boreal Valley is an amazing spectacle. The graceful movement, the flowing armor - I think I died a few times fighting her because I was too busy watching her move. Old Demon King is a motherfucker. Of all the Sunbro-ing I did Old Demon King had the highest rate of host death by a pretty large margin. I'd bet Nameless King would be even higher, except the summoning in his area didn't work 95% of the time so I didn't stick around long.

I haven't gone into NG+ yet, and probably won't until after I play through the DLC. I started over with a sorcerer and we'll see how that goes. I think she'll be perfect for the usurping the fire ending from a roleplaying perspective. I also want to try a pyromancer (a class I've never played in any souls game) and I think that would be great for the betrayal ending (the pyro betrays the fire, get it?).

Overall, I really enjoyed it and I'm looking forward to playing more of the core game and the DLC.

I think the levels say more about their respective boss counts. I'm at 110 now at the back end of NG+ but I'm sure my Dark Souls II new game character finished around that level.

@bane: I don't want to sound rude or anything, but how in the world did you get 72 hours played on your very first game? I'm at about 40 hours played, and that's doing NG and NG+.

@random45: PVP and co-op with bosses. I just finished NG+ and I'm well over 100 hours. I'd wager 30-35 hours of that is PVP. And about 8 hours of nothing but helping people beat bosses.

Ah, I just don't find the PvP in this game attractive at all. Whenever I unfortunately get embered, I typically just kill myself so I don't have to deal with it. The only times I ever go embered is when I think I'll need the extra HP to help kill a boss, or if my friend is on and we want to play together.

In other news, I JUST beat The Nameless King for the first time on my NG+ character. I kept hearing horror stories about how incredibly hard he was, so I was pretty underwhelmed when I managed to beat him on my first try. I don't want to sound like a dick, but this guy's wind-ups and tells are incredibly obvious and consequently very easy to dodge, and with the Lightning Absorption ring+1, he wasn't actually doing that much damage either. That being said, it was a very fun and thrilling boss, and fighting him 1 on 1 was a lot of fun. These have always been my favorite kinds of bosses in the Soulsborne games, and this is definitely one of the better ones. Out of all of the bosses in this game, I'd rank him as my second or third favorite boss. The Abyss Watchers, The Soul of Cinder, and The Nameless King are all great 1 on 1 fights, and I really hope future DLC provides more of these.

@random45: Nice job on beating him first try! What kind of build/gear are you using? I imagine the DLC will have some nice bosses, for sure. What I heard about the Old Hunters Bloodborne DLC was that the bosses there could get pretty tough.

@random45: Yeah with a lighting ring +1 it really takes the sting out of his attacks. Problem most people have on NG is they don't go into that fight with high lightning resistance. So his attacks to massive damage if they land.

I was level 141 when I fought the boss, and my main stats are:

Vigor: 40
Endurance: 40
Vitality: 20
Stength: 40
Dex: 50

The other stats are still at their base level, since I never bothered to level them up much. I use the Uchigatana+10, and the Dragon Crest shield. I typically like to wear the Fire Keeper set because I like the aesthetic of the set, but for the fight I just put on a mishmash of gear that had high lightning defense. In the end, I had about 32% lightning absorption, so that's why his attacks didn't hurt me nearly as much as they could have. Considering it's NG+ I fought him in, I didn't think that it was possible to really out-level him, but chances are that the reason I had such an easy time of it was because of my high level and stats.

As for the Old Hunters DLC, if there is ANY boss in the upcoming Dark Souls 3 DLC that is as hard and fun as the final boss of that DLC was, then I'm going to be very happy.

@random45: I've heard the games bosses don't scale well at all in NG+ cycles. I'm kind of curious at what LVL people were at finishing up NG, I was low 60's same as DS1 that might not be the case for most it seems I don't know

@fredddi43: Nah, it wont take you that long. Should be able to get real close by the end of NG++. Souls increase in each cycle. Boss souls massively. And the soul items scale also. Plus once you get the silver serpent ring +2 you can farm the three winged knights on the roof of the archives for 40k each, 120k per 2-3 minute run.

That honestly wouldn't surprise me. Other than +1 rings being scattered everywhere now, the game feels largely unchanged, and in a lot of places, it's just flat out easier the second time around due to my higher stats and access to all of the gear and items I had at the end of the previous run.

Princes definitely felt on par with my NG run, except this time I summoned. Most bosses feel like you smash them quicker, though.

About to finish up NG+ and I'm trying to get my 30 darkmoon blade covenant items. They made it an extremely rare drop and I haven't been summoned a single time with the covenant item on. This is reminding me of that fucking pure bladestone farm, which I must have done for about 10 hours and never got. Its still the only reason I never got platinum in Demon's Souls and Dark Souls 2 and at this rate I won't get it in Dark Souls 3 for the same reason. I just don't have the patience or time to farm those things for that long anymore.

Other than that I'm enjoying NG+ a lot. I think like Dark Souls 2 its the most fun part of the game. This is probably because you need to sort of spread out your points more if you wanna do a melee and magic character so you don't really get comfortable in your build until around the end of the game. At least thats what it was like for me. I also have a lot of fun summoning and being summoned for NG+ bosses.

EDIT: So today I decided to just put down a white sign soapstone in the area the Aldritch faithful invade to see how active it actually was at my SL and the dude I got summoned in for was being invaded nonstop. I think they need to change Darkmoon Blade to be similar to the Aldritch faithful and Farron people so that when anyone in the anor londo/irithyll areas gets invaded you can be summoned in to help rather than only the way of the blue people, Because I seriously doubt many people have their way of the blue covenant item equipped.

Ugh maybe I should just give up on it for this character and try to make a low SL pvp character who might actually get summoned in to farm this stuff.