A Nekoni!


Originating from the depths of the underworld, Nekoni were the demonic representation of gluttony, a parallel to the lust of a Succubi. But after consorting with mortals, they were banished, forced to live among humans.

Of course, none of this matters in the Dark Souls universe, but that doesn't mean we can't make a nice cosplay build off of it.

Before you even begin to build this character, you're going to need to collect at least 10 of every food item in the game. Bug pellets, Common fruit, And a maxxed out estus to wash it all down. Eat aaaall of them at once. Once you're done, close the game for a month and take a na-
Well, that's only if you want to get into the spirit of a Nekoni. In fact, just don't do any of that.

Nekoni are, by nature, extremely beefy, and extremely tanky. In other words, this is just a very flexible Strength and HP monster build. Most of your points will be going into STR and VIG, though you can spread them out as much as you like.

Boom! Everything together lands us a full 1750 damage, in NG+, no less!

Really, there's a lot of room for experimentation with this build. Feel free to break away from the suggested equipment.
Just not the feline boots. That'd be silly.

Starting Class: Knight
Starting Gift: Life Ring


It goes without saying that Nekoni should look like... well, Oni. Just look at them!

There's a few things that stand out. Red skin, kitty parts, blonde hair, and most importantly, BEEFY.

With that in mind, we can keep things simple: Pick a large, upper-large, or lower-large build. You can add muscles if you want to look especially strong, but that comes down to preference.

Important things out of the way first: Non-standard skin tones can be hard to achieve in this game's creator. Don't worry. I've got that all taken care of for you.



Here's how to make your character all red and demonic. (For future reference, making skin tone darker is more colorful than upping the color intensity. Why, B-team?)
If you've done everything right, you should have a character that looks like this.



But how'd you get the face to be such a solid color? Every time I try I get this weird mishmosh of random off-colored blushing!
Simple. Just give yourself a tattoo. Pick the solid circle one, increase its size to max, and color it appropriately.

Anyway, now that that's out of the way, we can get to--

WAIT.

What are THOSE THINGS? Human legs? Ewww! We can't have that on a Nekoni! We need something catlike! Something silly, furry, and adorable! We need...


The holy grail of Fashion Souls. Truly the best piece of leg armor in the ga- nay, the entire series!
Or maybe they're just some silly kitty boots that reduce your falling damage. Regardless, this is a Nekoni build, and it's incomplete without them. You can buy them from Sweet Shaliquor, but only under specific circumstances I can cover later.

This part can vary a lot, so I'll just stick with my personal favorites.

Your choice of crown - Any of the DLC crowns will work just fine, as they're subtle, yet fashionable and give amazing bonuses. If not that, Pick something that shows off your face well.

I'd suggest the King's Crown for the bonus stats. If you're following the guide like the way I play it, this'll be the best choice.





The Crown of the Sunken King can also work, though it sacrifices some other stats you might need more. +1 END, STR, DEX,INT, and FAI, but lowers your VIG and VIT by 1. If you think that's worth it, go for it.



The Crown of the Ivory King is another good choice, as it's the lightest and gives a small amount of HP regen. (around 40 a minute. Not amazing, but it's something, at least.)




Runner-ups: Prisoner's Hood, Desert Sorceress Hood, Benhart's Helm, Brigand Hood

Anything can work. - Well, somewhat. You want something that looks good with what else you have. Feel free to experiment and pick what you think looks best. Other than that, I've made a list of my favorites.

If weight seriously matters to you, go for the Brigand Armor. It's stylish, and only weighs 3.1 Units!

Want something that looks hardy and offers good defense, but is also light and manageable? The Varangian Armor Is a great mix of it all! Offers over 100 in all Physical defenses when maxxed out, at only 5.1 units!

But if we're going for the hardiest, beefiest build possible, put in the extra VIT to get Vengarl's Armor. This beast is three times heavier than the Varangian armor, but also three times as defensive! And it has poise! On top of that, it looks mighty fearsome. What's not to love?

Also recommended: Lion Warrior Cape, Bandit Armor, Hard Leather Armor, Desert Sorceress Top, Pick anything, really!

Again, lots of room for experimentation. - Lots of things can go for the gauntlets. Although, try to keep the hands covered. We're supposed to have fur there, but there's simply no options for that! WHY, B-TEAM?

If auxiliary effects pique your fancy, definitely go for the Northwarder Manchettes. Not only are their appearance nearly perfect for fashion, but they offer a whopping 12.5% increase to spell duration. Basically, that just means longer buffs. And they're very light, giving you freedom elsewhere. Have fun!

If you aren't interested in spells, disregard that. Go for the Engraved Gauntlets. defense-wise, they're trash. But equipping them gives you a chance (Roughly 5-15%) to deal critical hits when attacking, for about 50% extra damage!

But again, if we're just here for defense, by all means, Havel's Gauntlets are a prime choice. The things look amazing with just about any build, and their big numbers back them up. They're heavy as a rock, though. Yeesh. 11.5 Units is no joke.


Runner-ups: Lion Warrior Cuffs, Brigand Gauntlets, Falconer Gloves, Vengarl's Gloves

No.
From the moment you get the Flying Feline Boots, they should be equipped at all times.
Getting them should be your first priority of the build. It's simple. Just defeat the Royal Rat Vanguard and Authority (Located in Grave of Saints and Doors of Pharros respectively). When they're both slain, Sweet Shaliquor will sell you a pair.

Runner-ups: I mean, I guess you could equip some other kind of boots, but that'd hide the defining feature of the build.

A Strength build? In MY Dark Souls 2? It's more likely than you think.
But it CAN work! Unpredictability is the main draw here.
In PvP, you'll always want to keep your opponent guessing. Pulling new tricks out of your sleeves constantly is sure to increase your victory chances.
In PvE, the same setup can work, if only because you'll be carrying around several weapons of varying speeds and powers. Who knows when you'll be invaded, though...
So without any further introduction, let's get to the weapon selection.


1. Your choice of Greathammer - The prime weapon of any STR build, these things can do massive damage. Manage to land a backstab with one of these things and you'll easily pass 2000 damage on most enemies. They're terribly slow and heavy, though, but that just makes them all the more rewarding. While you'll be using the Great Club for most of the earlygame, it can still be useful later on, but you'll want to replace it eventually, right?

Gyrm Greathammer is my personal favorite. An anvil chained to a stick. It does loads of damage and isn't that hard to hit with. Its one-hand requirement is the same as the softcap for STR scaling, so there's no worries! It just has one crippling weakness: The strong attack is too weak with too short a range for its long windup.

The Drakekeeper's Greathammer is right after it. It does the same damage as the anvil, but has a MUCH better strong attack. The major downside is that it takes 10 more STR to one-hand. Ouch.


But byfar the best is the Dragon's Tooth. Not only doing just the tiniest bit more damage than the others, but it also boosts your Fire and Magic defenses by a flat 50! If that's not anything to go for, I don't know what is.

It's been recommended that this guide use the Sacred Chime Hammer from Velstadt, as it benefits greatly from the high faith and int required for the Major Greatboard. It's moveset is decent. Give it a shot sometime.

If you want, you can use an ultra greatsword in place of a greathammer. I recommend the Fume Ultra Greatsword, as its special attack blocks attacks as it swings, and it has a whopping 80% physical block as a WEAPON.


2. Bone Fist - The fist weapon with the most unique moveset. It'll definitely be your weakest weapon in the set, but MAN is it powerful in the right hands. Don't bother powerstancing it. We can't sink the DEX into it. Just focus on it for its main attraction - Letting you finally live up to the title of Flying Feline.
Oh, that's right. The running attack on this thing is a flying jump kick. It's got a ridiculously long endtime, but if you manage to hit with it it's sure to knock down whatever it hits.

Oh, and if you don't have one yet, just use a claw or caestus in the meantime. You can get it behind a door opened by sconces just before the second bonfire of Eleum Loyce.


1. Pick a greatsword! - There are two main choices here. Which one you pick depends on how much you want to invest into them.

The Majestic Greatsword is the prime choice here, as it gets a unique moveset when wielded in the left hand, but oh NO those stat requirements.
20 INT and FAI for a weapon that has scaling in neither. Personally? I say go for it. If you make the investment, you'll get extra elemental defenses, and you can just infuse your hammer with Fire or Dark to get even more damage out of it!

If you don't want to invest that much into the casting stats, go for the Loyce Greatsword instead. While its potential damage isn't as great and it has a mediocre range, its moveset makes up for that. It has one of the most unique movesets of all greatswords, although I still prefer the Majestic Greatsword overall.



2. (Optional) - Shield or Parrying Dagger - Various shields give various bonus effects, as well as enabling parrying! If you get good with that, you'll open up loads of opportunities for doing thousands of damage on ripostes.

If you want something that'll give you a good passive effect, use the Charred Loyce Shield giving you a regen of around 2HP/second. Not bad, but not great, either.

For more passives, there's always the Vessel Shield, giving you a flat bonus to multiple stats. +1 to VIG, END, ADP, INT, and FAI, and +4 to STR and DEX! Very useful in general.

If none of those interest you, go for the Sanctum Shield as it doubles as a universal catalyst.

Or just get a Parrying Dagger, Monastery Scimitar, or Buckler for parries.

3. Catalyst, Chime, or Flame - No explanation required. You're likely to have at least one buff spell, so keep something on hand that can actually cast the thing.

There's tons of weapons in the game, so feel free to experiment. The Dragonslayer Crescent Axe is a favorite of mine, but what fits the aesthetic of the build wonderfully is the Red Rust Sword. You might also prefer the Fume Ultra Greatsword or Ivory King Ultra Greatsword in your right hand. Other than that, play around with what you have!

Take a wild guess.
That's right! We'll be using our ring slots to make ourself even BEEFIER! A few of these are interchangable if you want to focus on doing more damage over actually living to deal that damage.

Perma-Slot 1 - Third Dragon Ring
Yeah, that's right. This thing gives you a bonus to various things. To be precise, +7.5% HP, and +12.5% Stamina, and Equip Load. It's a staple in any build. Of course I wouldn't leave it out of this one.


Perma-Slot 2 - Life Ring+3
And this one also gives a flat 15% increase to HP. With this and the Third Dragon Ring together, you should have well over 2500 HP at 50 VIG.



Interchangeable Slot 1 - Blue Tearstone Ring
"WHAT? Who in their right mind would use the-"
Now, calm down. It's received a serious buff since Souls 1, if you've ever bothered to use it. It doesn't just increase your defense. You take a flat 35% less Physical damage when below 30% HP. (Allegedly, it also applies to elements.) If that doesn't sound incredible, keep in mind that it synergizes well with the other rings we have, giving us a MUCH higher active range, meaning much more room for tanking. I know it still might be an odd choice, but it's saved my life more times than I can count. If you don't believe me, feel free to swap it out with something else.

Interchangeable Slot 2 - Whatever you want.
When you break it down, you're going to be in a lot of situations. I prefer to save this for another defense-boosting ring, but some people might prefer a Ring of Blades or Royal Soldier Ring here instead. I suggest you just gather one of each Quartz Ring+3. These all give 150 extra defense to each element. There's also the Dispelling Ring+1, which gives 120 extra defense to ALL elements. And lastly the Ring of Steel Protection+2 with a +100 bonus to all physical defenses. It tends not to make a big difference, though...
Really, there are so many rings in the game, you could put just about anything you want here. Cloranthy Ring could also be a good choice as we'll usually be far over 50% equip load.

What? No Flynn's ring?
Sadly, we're carrying way too much to make any use of the damage bonus from it. I usually have just over 100 max equip load, and the highest you can have to make any use of it is at 60.0. So either fatroll everywhere, or suck it up and live without the extra 50 damage. Just use a Ring of Blades+2 instead.

Unsurprisingly, this build is melee-centric. Spells won't be a primary concern. I'd suggest getting your attunement up to at least 10 or 13 for one or two slots, but it's understandable if you want to skip out on them.

Here's where most of our selection will come from, though it's still not very much. You'll only be able to attune one or two of these, so pick wisely.

Replenishment or Resplendent Life are good choices, providing a measly amount of HP regeneration. They stack with all other regeneration sources, though! Could be useful if you don't know what else to bring.


Magic Barrier and Great Magic Barrier are other favorites of mine. I'd suggest the former if you don't feel like putting a lot of points into FAI. The main difference is that GMB has nearly twice the FAI requirement, but a whole 100 points of defense more, giving 250 more resistance to all elements.

Sacred Oath is the odd one out here. It gives you a flat bonus (+75) to physical defense and (+50) attack power, but only lasts 60 seconds and takes a whopping FOUR ATTUNEMENT SLOTS. Personally, I'd focus on something else...


Denial is another weird one. It'll protect you from one attack that would otherwise kill you, but only leaves you with 2HP. It also doesn't trigger at all on damage over time. Along with taking 3 attunement slots, it's a bit of a steep investment, but can save your life.


All Heal Spells, Particularly Great Heal Excerpt are also great choices. Why Excerpt rather than the real deal? Not only does it have half the FAI requirement, it also has a much faster casting speed for no other tradeoff than less castings. If you plan on putting more into FAI, It might be worth it to go for another.

Much fewer choices than before. We'll be looking over two spells this time.

Resonant Flesh is a good choice if you don't mind it eating 2000 souls every time you cast it. A 20% bonus of HP is nothing to scoff at. If you have 2500 HP, that gives you another 500. It doesn't fill up the new portion of the health pool, so if you want to take it into PvP, you'll have to attune a heal spell to fill yourself up after casting it.
Where this REALLY shines, though, is it ups the effective range of the Blue Tearstone Ring, effectively giving you 1000 HP of nothing but tank.


Numbness can potentially make you even tankier, letting you take a full 35% less damage from all sources, but it has LUDICROUSLY high FAI and INT requirements, and only lasts a measly 20 seconds. It might be worth looking into if you're planning on going far into the NG+ levels, otherwise it's just not worth the investment.

Since they have no stat requirements, You can use any Pyromancy and have it be effective. Go wild.

Nope. We'll be swapping weapons too often to make use of them. It's not like they provide much of a big bonus anyway.
But hey. I'm not one to judge. If you plan on taking just your hammer into a boss fight, go ahead.

Here's my build at the time of writing. I find that leveling beyond 180 takes most of the fun away from PvP. Stick with a SL150-180 build for PvP, otherwise go wild if you just wanna play through the game normally. You'll only be missing out on some room for spells or bonus damage. High-level PvP tends to be terrible, anyway.

If you have any interest in PVP, then don't level beyond SL180. Beyond that point, builds begin to become homogenized and stats matter much less.
VIG: 50. No question.
END: After spending all your points, distribute them between END and VIT according to your interest.
VIT: Did I stutter? I usually like to have at least 24 of this on this build, though.
ATT: 13 or more. Get as many attunement slots as you need and then increase ADP until you hit 91-94 AGI. Don't bother with this one if you don't plan on casting.
STR: 40. Also no question. This is a strength build, after all.
DEX: 30. You want this to be at the minimum for using your weapons. In my case, this much.
ADP: As much as it takes to hit 91-94 AGI.
INT: 20, if using the Majestic Greatsword. Otherwise, leave it be.
FAI: 20, same deal as before, but miracles have a lot of good buffs. Even if you aren't using the greatsword, it'd be worth it to invest a bit into this.

50 VIG will get us around 2000 HP. THIS IS THE MEDIUMCAP. Leveling this any further will start giving us 5 HP per point.

I have 20 INT and FAI, at least. Whether you want to go for it depends mostly on a few things.

• Do you want to use the Majestic Greatsword?
  
• Do you want to be tankier against elements?
  
• Do you want to have more options when casting spells?
  
• Do you want to infuse your main weapon with Dark or Fire?

If the answer to any of these is yes, then level up your INT and FAI to 20, at least. If you plan to go further in either direction, that's fine, but it'll take away from the utility of our other stats.
If you do end up getting each to 20, infuse your hammer with dark and greatsword with fire, or vice-versa for optimal damage and scaling.

I'd suggest having a mix of some ADP and ATN to get your Agility around 92 or more. You CAN dodge with 92 AGI. It's just slightly tougher than normal.
I'd also recommend getting your ATN to 10, 13, or 16 before leveling ADP.

Physical and Elemental defense works very differently. First: Leveling END and VIT will get you physical resistance. Elemental resistances are leveled when buffing your mental stats. INT and FAI at 20 should give you nearly 150 resistance to every element.
Second: Elemental defense is calculated differently from physical. It's actually reduced in a percentage fashion. Having 900-1000 Defense in any element will make you "Immune" to that element, reducing all damage to 1.

This is kind of a hotly debated topic in the community. Some people might tell you physical defense is completely worthless, as it doesn't block nearly as much damage as it should. So! I did some testing! Heading to the first hollow in Things Betwixt, I stood still and let him hit me wearing absolutely nothing as compared to the highest I could get.

Unfortunately, it's not exactly incredible. But it still made a much bigger difference than I originally expected!

While this build may not be as effective as most "Meta" builds in PvP You know who you are, you Havel-Jester-Saniter-Katana piece of it can still pack a mighty punch. Hammer hits can easily deal over 650 damage to people, and that's ignoring what you can do on a backstab.

However, greathammers are extremely easy to dodge, given their slow attack and huge windup. You'll mostly be using yours as more of a trap than anything. Try to catch people right at the end of their rolls with it. Remember, the strong attack on the Drakekeeper Greathammer and Dragon Tooth is actually very fast!

Most of the power in this build comes from keeping your opponent guessing. Swap between various weapons constantly. Change your strategy all the time. If you do nothing but spam the jump-kick on the bone fist, try doing a running attack with a Greatsword instead.

The Bone Fist, although weak, is potentially extremely powerful. Two-handing it will give you a much slower, but nearly twice as strong moveset. The flying kick becomes a right hook instead, but its rolling attack also becomes an AoE! You can easily be interrupted from a strong attack, but if you land one, it's sure to do nearly as much damage as a greathammer.

Remember, the Majestic Greatsword has a huge spinning attack for its one-handed heavy attack. It's very useful for catching enemies off-guard, but it has a long wind-up. Consider doing regular swings instead. They have a long, wide reach and usually can catch an enemy right after a roll. It's fast enough to swing again if they roll through that, and you're likely to hit them then.

It's a cheesy tactic, but try to analyze someone's build before they even get close to you. You can swap out rings if you see them buffing with magic or just using exclusively one spell.

The Blue Tearstone Ring can be amazing, but it won't save you from everything. It's strongest against chip damage from smaller DEX-based weapons, like Rapiers, and ranged attacks like knives or arrows. Burst damage, like from a backstab or larger STR weapon will cut right through it, giving you maybe just one extra hit as opposed to 3-5.

Having lots of heavy stuff equipped will hinder your stamina regen. Keep this in mind, as most of the weapons we have will eat up a lot of it. I suggest having 20-30 points in END and waiting for a full bar before you jump back into combat.

Other than that, you'll have to find out on your own. I don't claim to be a PvP expert, but I've had more fun and more wins with this than I've ever had before.

Assuming you know how to beat the Dragonrider with as little effort as possible, that should be your primary goal. When you've beaten him, head right back to Majula and level your VIG to 22. Put the rest of your points into STR. Assuming you picked the Life Ring as your starting gift, Equip that, and join the Way of Blue for the Blue Seal. With these together, you should have over 1300 health. Unequip everything you've got and walk off onto the first plank of the Pit. If you have anything equipped besides those two rings, or you have any forward momentum, you will die on landing.

Keep heading down the planks, healing accordingly, until you reach the cave. You're headed for the Grave of Saints, where you'll want to beat the Royal Rat Vanguard ASAP. We'll have to do this at some point anyway. And it's not too hard. When all is done, remember to level up some more and proceed through the other side of the boss door, giving us easier access to the bottom half of the pit. Make your way as normal from here. (You might want to kill the Syan Knight in the round room for a Bone Shard and chance at a Greatsword.)

Make your way through the gutter as normal. Our goal now is at the very end. The climb down into Black Gulch. When you've reached the long vertical segment, look around for a ladder leading to a chest. This contains the Great Club, our first Greathammer And your primary weapon for a while. Go ahead and proceed to the mouth of Black Gulch and pick up the FRAGRANT BRANCH there, Sedra. You stupid bimbo. where you can warp back to the Tower of Flame and proceed through the Wharf.

Your next priority should be getting a Fragrant Branch of Yore from a building on the other side. OR GET THE ONE IN BLACK GULCH. Dumb. Just proceed through the area as normal until you get to the area with the two shadow assassins. Head inside the building they guard and there should be a metal chest surrounded by sleeping Varangians and poison pots. Inside'll be your branch. And right next to the chest is a breakable wall with a Crystal Lizard and the Royal Soldier Ring.

Take the branch back to Majula, level up if you need. Unpetrify Rosabeth and proceed through the shaded woods. When you reach the ruins, you may optionally kill Manscorpion Tark if you don't feel like waiting until Freja for the Second Dragon Ring. Go ahead and kill Najka to open up the Doors of Pharros. Head through the optional area, through the giant rat skull. At the end of the gauntlet is the Royal Rat Authority. Good luck with this guy. While you're here, you may as well farm the greatshield-wielding Gyrm Warriors for their hammer.

And with that, you can now head back to Majula to buy the Flying Feline Boots. At this point you can just play through the game as normal, just keep a few things in mind...

If you want the Dragon Tooth, you can find one pretty early in Belfry Luna. Just kill the Gargoyles and you'll find it in the area afterwards.

If you're going for the Majestic Greatsword, it's at the bottom of an annex tower at Brume Tower, one of the DLC areas. You can find the key for Brume at the bottom of the fire pit in the Forest of Fallen Giants. Heading through the DLC early will be very tricky. You'll know you're in the right spot if Maldron the Assassin invades you.

To get the Bone Fist, you'll need to get to Drangleic Castle first and grab the Frozen Flower. Take that back to the Shrine of Winter and head to Eleum Loyce. Play through the area as normal until you get the Eye of the Priestess (Or just kill Aava invisible, you absolute god.) But take note of a path hidden in snow right before the second bonfire. You'll need to beat the boss and talk to Alsanna to stop the snowstorm. Lighting these sconces on a return trip will open the door, containing another key, and more importantly, the Bone Fist. (You also get the Vessel Shield right before the door to Alsanna.)

Hopefully this has provided a great experience for you! In my experience, the PvP experience seems to dwindle a bit after NG+, so try to keep your level to around 180 if you want the most fun.

Let me know if you liked the guide! I've got other builds I could write up if you're interested!


Game icons taken from Fextralife[darksouls2.wiki.fextralife.com]

Nekoni art by AkuOreo[akuoreo.deviantart.com]

Nekoni race belongs to Tim Dyson[lordthawkeye.deviantart.com]