Here I'm just going to put down a few tips that I wish I had been told before playing the game.

• Don't try to be a dedicated spellcaster-- by this I mean focusing purely on magic and catalysts-- in your first few runs, or at least until you're familiar with how the game works
  
• Get your Agility to 99 after you get the required Strength and Dexterity for the weapons you've decided on using in the early game.
  
• Armor is pretty much useless for physical defense, its only perk is having elemental resistance, so wear what looks cool.
  
• Learn to dodge, as there's a lot of attacks that eat through your stamina when you block them, leaving you super vulnerable.
  
• Learn your weapon, and choose a weapon based on how good it feels to use. You need one that fits YOUR playstyle.
  
• Don't join the Covenant of Champions unless you're needing to grind for souls, as it increases the power of enemies, and also makes them indefinitely spawn. It also prevents summoning White and Gold Phantoms, while still being vulnerable to invasion.
  
• Speak to the cat named Shalquior in the house right by the rotunda in Majula to leave a covenant.
  
• For the love of God, USE YOUR SHIELD AGAINST THINGS THAT AREN'T HUGE
  
• Try to beat an area solo before you start summoning White and Gold phantoms
  
• Summoning isn't something to be ashamed of, we sunbros need to make a living somehow.
  
• Learn from your mistakes
  
• Learn to laugh at your mistakes

You know what I've noticed? People that go in blind with this game tend to be miserable. That's why I'm gonna send you to http://darksouls2.wiki.fextralife.com/Weapons to have you take a look at what kind of weapons are in the game, and have you decide what kind of weapons you want to use. It's a choice you should make yourself, but I'm going to recommend a few weapons that I've noticed to be really noob friendly. Though I will say, "noob friendly" doesn't mean that they're super spammy, only that they have nice versatile movesets and some nice raw damage.

The Hand Axe / The Battle Axe / The Bandit Axe

These three weapons share a really nice moveset, and deal really good damage in the early-mid game. All of them are avaliable really early in the game, and are upgraded with regular titanite. The running attack comes out really quickly too, so it's a great way to deal with fast enemies.

Any Spear
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Choose a spear, any spear. All of them are good, but my favorites are the Dragonslayer Spear and the Partizan.

Scythe
This halberd, while it does have a sweet spot, has some stupid damage. It's sweet spot is rather large, as well.

Greatswords
Greatswords are probably my favorite weapon class in the game. They're versatile and powerful while still being quick and relatively easy on the stamina. They're a happy medium between the light, weak Straight Swords and the heavy, powerful Ultra Greatswords. The specific one I recommend is the Claymore, since it has Greatsword R1s and an R2 attack chain that starts with a Spear-like thrust that goes into a 360 degree spin-slash. Since it's a Greatsword, which eats poise for breakfast, you'll pretty much always land the second R2 in PvE, and in PvP if your opponent is cocky. It's bought from Vengarl in the Shaded Woods' foggy area.

Katanas
The most hated weapon class in PvP, since they deal insane DPS with their quick attack speed, decent poise damage, and high physical base damage with Dexterity scaling that's through the roof. The earliest one you can get is the Uchigatana, so I'll recommend it over the others, but they all have about the same power and general moveset. You can buy it from McDuff in the Lost Bastille.

And as a final note

So during the character creation, you will choose your starting class. All this does is determine your starting stats and equipment. There's only two starting classes I can really recommend to any new players: the Knight and the Bandit.

I have my reasons for choosing these two classes for newbies.


This class is the best start for a Strength build or for a spellcaster if you're unfamilliar with spellcasting. It starts with a respectable amount of health and equip load, and has a pretty decent starting weapon, the Broadsword. It's even spread of stats makes it very moldable to whatever playstyle you decide on. If you want to be a spellcaster, I highly recommend starting here.


Hands down, this is the only real choice if you want to make a quality build or a Dexterity build. It doesn't have as much health as the Knight, but it has the lowest total of stats dedicated to magic, meaning that you'll be able to have more points in important things, like Vigor and Endurance. It also starts with the best set of starter weapons, a Hand Axe and a Short Bow. Go with this class if you like fast weapons and bows.

Something you'll notice when you get done with your character creation is the sheer fact that you are weak as hell.

Your earliest level investments are going to be integral to your enjoyment of the game. I have a nice formula for leveling when starting as any class:

1. Get your Strength, Dexterity, Faith, and Inteligence to the requirements to one-hand the weapons and shields you've chosen. Don't bother with getting them to the requirements for a late-game catalyst yet, though. Using a basic one will do fine until later.
   
   
2. Level your Vigor and Endurance to 20.
   
   
3. Level up your Adaptability until your Agility hits 99.
   
   
4. Level up the offensive stats you're using until they hit the soft-cap. That's 40 for Strength or Dexterity, 50 Faith for Lightning, 50 Inteligence for Magic, 60 combined Faith and Intelligence for Fire, and 30 Faith and Intelligence for Dark. This would be when you invest the required levels for a better catalyst.
   
   
5. Dump points into your Vigor

You can do the second and third step in whichever order you prefer. Do step 3 before step 2 if you want to have a reliable dodge. Do step 2 before step 3 if you'd rather get your Health/Stamina up ASAP.

Feel free to level up Vitality and Attunement as needed, as Equip Load is a stat requirement that varies greatly from build to build, and you probably want some extra spell slots if you're a spellcaster.

Note, though, that Attunement will also increase agility, so if you have a lot of attunement, you don't need as much in the way of Adaptability.

Something you need to learn is that every enemy type tends to have it's own moveset, movement style and speed, and power. You need to take your time with an enemy when fighting it to learn what it can do, and what it can't do.

For example, the hollow warriors and soldiers in the Forest of Fallen Giants have straightforward attacks, and can't dodge. Their weakness is thus comboing them to death, since they have no way to escape your attacks. The Manikins from the Earthen Peak are really fast and can stunlock you easily, but their health is so low that you can take them out in a few hits. You should also notice that when you block their attacks, it takes very little stamina, which allows you to block a flurry then retaliate with one of your own. The Old Knights in Heide's Tower of Flame are big and slow, but hit hard. It's more efficient to strafe and dodge them rather than blocking, and I doubt you could break their poise with any efficiency.

You need to be able to make observations like that when fighting enemies so that you know what strategies to employ. Whether you should turtle behind a shield, attack quickly, or dodge that giant sword coming for your booty-- you'll learn to adapt to your opponent in time, if you want to survive Drangleic.


I don't know how to put this other than simply saying "Take your time, and proceed slowly."
If you try to rush through an area that you're unfamiliar with, you're only going to die a quick death. Observe your surroundings well, make note of suspiscious things, and always watch your back. If you don't, you're going to miss out on loot and get ganked by a bunch of hollows that have you on their hit list.

If you don't learn to dodge, you're just going to keep dying.
A greatshield can only do so much for you.

There are two major factors that determine the effectiveness of each roll, your Equip Load, and your Agility.

This will determine how far you roll. You will get rolls that are progressively shorter in distance the more equip load you have. For example, someone at 25% equip load will have a roll that goes much, much farther than someone with 60% equip load.

This has a progressive effect on you, as in it decreases your roll distance proportionally to how much Equip Load you have. There's a chart that will give you an idea of how drastic this is at heavier weights here: http://darksouls2.wikidot.com/rolling

This auxiliary stat is arguably the most important in the game. It's what determines how many frames of invincibility rolls and backsteps give you at certain thresholds. This chart http://darksouls2.wiki.fextralife.com/Agility will give you an idea of how amazing the effect can be when you have high agility.

After reading this and following the advice, I hope you have a bit more of a grasp on how to build your character a bit more effectively during the earlier stages of the game as a new player. After choosing your class, planning your leveling pattern, and deciding on your weapons, it's time for you to practice, practice, practice. You don't get better at games by having someone tell you numbers and names, you just get a grasp on how to have a bit more fun with the game that way.

Go forth, brave undead. Seize your destiny, or go hollow trying. Your skills will only be as effective as you train them to be, so train well, and then live well. Savor your journey, and I hope to see you around while I aid newly undead such as yourself.