3108

You can swap at will. As for stats, vigor is always a safe bet up until 40 for midgame.

3109

Ok I M going all vigor for a bit then. Thank you! I’ve been dying way too much anyways.

I feel bad, like I just cannot kill those trolls at all. Am I not doing well if I can’t kill them yet at level 18?

3110

You might try the solo troll by the Third Church of Marika instead. The area is a lot more open, easier to stay on horseback with no danger of aggroing other mobs except a dragonfly nearby.

I would think you should be able to take them out fine. Maybe get a larger weapon for more reach? Not sure what you’re using.

3111

That’s subjective. By level 18 you could have a +4 weapon if you know what you’re doing.

Also, levels and stats don’t mean as much as you might think. They do add up in the long run, but if you crunch the numbers you will see how small the incremental increases are. Dark Souls games are not like your standard RPGs where a level or two of difference between you and the enemy can mean either the toughest battle ever or complete faceroll.

3112

Horsey with troll is easy mode except for that one that jumps down in the Gateway. You need open ground and no other mobs.

3113

Also, do you know that you can swing your weapon on both sides of the horse? Not sure that’s explained anywhere. LB for left, RB for right on my xbox controller. Someone said mouse was mixed up so you might have to experiment if you’re using that.

3114

Agree - usually making sure my weapons/Ashes are maxed has a larger immediate impact.

That said if you have a few points then putting those points into vigor would have a more direct impact on survivability.

One or two points in endurance may also be the difference between a fat roll and a normal roll.

3115

That part is the game’s tutorial that teaches you it is OK to just run past stuff you can’t fight yet.

3116

What weapon do you all like to hammer the troll with from the horse?

3117

Whatever you normally use. You can’t really afford to be switching weapons much in the beginning because you’ll be gated by upgrade materials. And all weapons are viable, it’s mostly your preference and playstyle that will determine what works for you and what doesn’t.

3118

Protip: git gud with the horse first – changing speeds, swinging from both sides, weapon timing, and the like – by practicing on easier mobs first. South of the gate ruins spawns that threesome of nearly-harmless deadites. Practice your steed skills on guys like those first. Then bust through up the gate hill if you haven’t already, and keep going north until you get a wolfy surprise. Wolves are the perfect practice targets.

3119

Ok will do!

3120

And the jump attack!

Fighting by horseback in this game is sooo satisfying.

3121

So obviously I need to upgrade my weapons, but I’m paralyzed by indecision. I have the following weapons I alternate between:

  • Long Sword
  • Twinblade
  • Flail

And will give Lordsworn’s Greatsword and Dismounter a try when I get my strength up.

I have these ashes of war:
Stamp (sweep)
Wild Strikes
Storm Stomp
Determination
Storm Wall

Any suggestions on how I upgrade my weapons and with what? I haven’t upgraded a single thing yet.

3122

You will find smithing stones all over. They have different tiers, and you will need multiple (unless it’s a unique weapon) to get them high enough to use a different type of stone. Both Longsword and Flail can easily get you through the entire game, Twinblade probably too but I don’t have first hand experience with it.

As for ashes, until you get the correct whetstones you will need to use the ones that have the correct affinity (str, dex, etc) that you want to scale.

3123

I can put storm stomp or determination on my long sword right now.
or
Stamp sweep, wild strike, storm stomp, or determination on my flail.

What would you suggest?

I’m guessing for my long sword I want to go the “quality” route?

3124

You can try them all and experiment; there’s no cost to reassigning ashes.

But note that in addition to changing the special move, ashes also modify the damage calculations, which are generally worth paying more attention to.

3125

Does split damage still suck in this game? It’s pretty hard to tell, especially with effects like bleed and frostbite muddying the waters.

3126

Hard to say. A lot of split weapons out-perform regular weapons. Until they don’t.

They always suffer from the issue of double-dipping resistances, but at the same time physical resistance is far more likely to be higher than any other resistance.

I basically have 3 weapons. One pure physical, one phys/fire, one phys/holy (mostly holy). The Phys/Fire is the top performer in almost every scenario. If something is really resistant to fire, the other two can be in the running. Or undead where the holy weapon is king.

Getting somber stone weapons to +9 eventually becomes extremely easy. Which feels weird, but whatever, I’ll take it. Getting a “regular” weapon to anything becomes hell. It just takes so many stones. Even if you can buy them, you’re often talking about like tens or hundreds of thousands or runes to buy TWELVE (?!?) stones to upgrade 3 times. Meanwhile somber stuff has 10 total levels and requires one stone per level. Regular weapons really should take half as many smithing stones imo. 1/2/4, then on to the next level. It would still be a ton more than a somber, but it wouldn’t require buying 36 stones for 50k+ runes to get to… +9. Which is basically nothing.

3127

You can scale longsword with anything, even intelligence, faith, etc, once you unlock special whetstones. It’s a universally good weapon and has been a fan favorite since the first Souls game.