1901

I can confirm this works, because this how I finally nobbled that sumnabitch last night. I died about fifteen times before I did, half the time to him, and half the time to the knights. The latter are trivial at this stage… unless you’re underestimating them and rushing because you’re sick of the fucking walk and think you’re a big shot, like me. I actually got to Allant first time, and was surprised to see my bloodstain on the floor - it’s been two months since I played, so I’d forgotten where it was. Anywho, in the fight, I grabbed it and discovered it had 140k souls in it. Schwing! He then killed me with about 20% of his health left. No problem, I think… and then fail to stagger one of the Fat Ministers on the bridge and get one-shot on the way back. Ouch.

I digress. As I was saying, cheaping him with the bow definitely works. I used a compound viscous longbow +4. I was using Cling Ring and Regenerator Ring, and wearing Dark Silver armour, so thief ring and armour don’t seem to make a difference as to whether he detects you. Step-by-step breakdown:

Press X to move through the fog from the lift. Don’t move again. At all.
Equip your bow, go into aim mode. You should see Allant’s head in the distance. It will be tiny. Aim to the left of it - arrows pull to the right of your crosshair in flight over long distances. It might take you a couple of arrows to find your range, but don’t worry, he isn’t going anywhere. Did I mention don’t move? When one lands, keep shooting. He moves steadily backwards, to the point where you won’t see him at all, but you should still be arcing the arrows over the steps in the same spot and hitting him. I was doing 50 damage at the start and 25 by the end. I had 100 arrows on me and that reduced him to about one-third health, so I would recommend bringing at least 200.

So yeah, I ran out of arrows. Swearing ensued. I buffed up with Total Protection, Purple Flame Shield and LSoM, then went in to finish it like a man. Having 98 Full Moon Grass from running the level so much helped. Total Protection was a complete lifesaver. I maintained that, dodged a bit, and hacked him up. There was still no margin for error, but it was a lot easier to not make errors when the length of the fight is significantly reduced. I did a little victory fist pump, grabbed the archstone… and, glowing in triumph, promptly ran straight down the newly-arrived fucking great hole in the middle of the Nexus and died. If that isn’t Demon’s Souls in a nutshell, what is? Anyway, new game + awaits!

1902

So it took quite a few trial runs to refine, but I finally have the Old Hero backtrack farming location down to a science. At 41 intelligence, I had enough magic points to soul thirst and soulsucker the first black phantom katana asshole (70k + 14k from previous reaper) and then evacuate out. Then once I became comfortable with the range necessary for soulsucker, I started taking on the two other black phantom/gold knights (32k apiece) as well by retreating and eating two fresh spices. I’m right on the verge of doing it fast enough to get soul thirst to last through the first black phantom/gold skeleton.

I’ve learned that sprinting through the white exploding spirits is really no big deal, although I don’t relish having to fish out the slug treasures later.

I’ve learned that mantas can either be completely oblivious to you (if you move fast enough) or lethal snipers when you aren’t wearing the thief ring. I’m not sure if the storm king sword works there or not, but I may give it a try just because they’ve griefed me on a few too many occasions.

I’ve learned that there are no shortcuts in 4-2.

1903

Things I’ve learned in NG++:

  • Soul Ray (Soul Light) is great against Phalanx. It’s quick to cast and penetrates a bunch of Hoplites (Phalangeals) and Phalanx itself for a quick win. It is very satisfying to see a dozen hits register with one spell.
  • Adjudicator is trivial with Homing Soul Arrow (Moving Soul Arrow) at least if your Magic is high enough to get the full complement of arrows. Just run counterclockwise around the middle level. With no need to look at the demon it’s easy to negotiate the stairs along the run. Two casts were enough for me! Fastest boss demon fight ever.
1904

-I learned that Soul Ray was awesome against Phalanx in NG+
-Adjudicator is among the easiest bosses in the game in melee, Homing Soul Arrow I’ll have to try though.

The one thing in NG+
The Spell Warding turns fatal one-shots into minor flesh wounds

1905

Fucking blue dragon. I’ve fought the false king once and every other attempt I’ve died on the stairs trying to get there. I need to kill this stupid dragon…
Any way to speed up casting time on my spells?

1906

Sadly, no.

1907

Just get a bow ;)

1908

I’ve been using a bow, but it takes forever, once he hits half health he flies up to the doorway and then I die trying to get under him.

1909

That’s the trick. You can time your run (especially helpful with a certain NPC distracting the dragon) so that you can get just under the dragon, and then the only issue is whether you brought enough arrows. You might need to lighten your armor to make the sprint without getting roasted.

1910

Why do you need to get under him? With both the Sticky Bow and the White Bow, it’s just a matter of time and clever rat ring if you want to be more efficient. I just sit before that last pillar just out of reach of the flame and shoot away.

1911

Lizard_King, I checked what kind of damage I’m doing with a magic-based weapon (Magic statistic at 99). The only such weapon I currently have is a Crescent Falchion +5. The letter denoting the bonus damage from the Magic stat is A for this weapon.

The damage listed in the Inventory screen is 112 physical, 119+159 magic, 120 bleeding = 390+120. I tried the sword on a pickaxe miner in the start of 2-2 in NG++. A normal attack did 377 damage (soul form, pure white character tendency).

1912

Here are my stats in comparison:

Magic Stat: 69
Weapon: Crescent Uchigatana +5
Inventory: 125 physical + 133+156 magic, 180 Bleeding = 414 +180bleeding

300 Damage to pickaxe miner in the start of 2-2 in NG+ while in Soul Form (White Tendency, NON-pure)

1913

Jarmo, what’s your faith stat? If it’s high I’d be curious as to what sort of damage you do with a Moonlight.

1914

If you guys haven’t already, I highly recommend joining another players game in spirit form at the start of the stage. 1-3 is a good place. Throughout the level Black Phantoms kept invading and we kept ganking them. The main human guy was using the Dragon Bone Smasher and one-shotted the first PB. The last one was little more smart and poison clouded us at specific narrow choke points, fought a bit and then retreated near the 3 red knights. A Fire Storm spell took care of them. Managed to get in a few backstabs.

1915

Not extra high, Faith 36 for four miracle slots (the maximum). Is that high enough for your porpoises (to jump)? Do you mean the Large Sword of Moonlight?

1916

Demon’s Souls needs your Qt3 vote fellow fans! Lizard_King, I know you didn’t vote in the awards last year, or this year (I think), but Demon’s Souls needs your vote now! Together we can get it to the semifinals!

1917

This game is still endearing. I had put it away for months, and now, I just saw it there… calling to me… and I’m starting all over. Making a thief characters from the start, and will try to play a duel dagger/bow role as far as I can manage. I managed to get to Phalanx with only one death, which made me happy.

The point of this post is this game, unlike many in recent years, has so much darn replayability in it!

1918

Yeah, I meant the Large Sword of Moonlight, but a faith of 36 isn’t really that much higher than mine. Since the Moonlight has an S for faith I was wondering if it becomes a monster with a high faith, which would be useful since it ignores shields.

1919

Well, wikidot says this:
“At max stats the Large Sword of Moonlight has 100 + 255 Magical Attack.”

1920

I tested Soulsucker against Flamelurker. The spell did nothing. I guess the chatter was right.