Needless to go around it: surely more once, all the players of the Souls series have let slip a series of curses after the umpteenth “You're Dead” appeared on their screens. This small guide aims to reduce, at least in part, the cadence of your blasphemies, addressing both the new adepts of Dark Souls III and the more experienced ones, proving useful perhaps as a brief review seasoned with some small news. We will then proceed step by step, starting with the creation of our pg.
Character creation adapted to play styles
As a good action rpg as it is, Dark Souls III allows you to create your own character by equipping it with a class, which will by now be known to the veterans of the series, although in this third chapter there will still be some news. However, more than the chosen class, it will be the points distributed among the various attributes that will make the difference, as well as the object that you will approach it. Obviously the sorcerers will have more points on intelligence by having to cast spells, the knights instead will enjoy a higher strength parameter than the other classes having to do with discounts to the heavy sword, the thieves will instead have more dexterity and vigor by unleashing quick attacks with smaller weapons. In case you want to take a more detailed look at the parameters for each class we propose a small gallery of images, to get you an idea.
Dark Souls III Assassin
Dark Souls III Cleric
Deprived Dark Souls III
Herald Dark Souls III
Dark Souls Knight III
Dark Souls Mercenary III
Pyromancer Dark Souls III
Dark Souls III Sorcerer
Thief Dark Souls III
Dark Souls III Warrior
The basic concept to understand what it does for you is one: if you like more to fight face to face with your opponents take the Knight, if you prefer distance a sorcerer while if you want to go somewhere in between the Pyromancer is the one for you. If you want to move nimbly, dodging attacks quickly and then react, choose the Thief.If instead what you are looking for is to increase the degree of difficulty even more and go on customizing your character as you like, then take the Deprived. With the Sorcerer, on the other hand, you will have an advantage especially in the first hours of the game.
Strategies for leveling up
The next step after choosing the class is obviously to level up your character, thus becoming stronger by increasing his attributes. Here nothing has changed compared to the past: by defeating the opponents we will get souls that we can spend to level up or to buy new items such as armor or bombs. Obviously we will have to prefer to level up, especially in the early stages of the game. All classes start the game at approximately level 8 except one: the Deprived. It with a practically bad equipment but with an advantage that it will be possible to exploit over long distances, i.e. it will start from level 1, thus being able to assign points to attributes as we see fit. Obviously at the beginning it will be really tough but, especially after you get some familiarity with the game, it will practically be possible to create a totally customized class.
Once you get in front of the Fire Keeper it will be normal to be a bit confused, having to choose between a lot of parameters to be enhanced based only on fairly approximate descriptions. However, the rule to follow will be simple: enhance the highest attributes of your class. In fact, this will tell us what to enhance and which attributes to leave in the background, thus improving our strengths from level to level.
Attributes and weapons
In Dark Souls III, every weapon can be upgraded provided that the attributes it is associated with are increased: this is the Attribute Bonus mechanism.
The picture shows an Assassin weapon that is associated with Strength and Dexterity. Raising these two attributes through the use of souls, this weapon will be much more effective, benefiting us in a not indifferent way. As in this case, however, if there is more than one attribute linked to the weapon, it will be better to give priority to the one with the most other requirement, specifically Dexterity.
Dark Souls and the "rhythm"
Dark Souls is known above all for its difficulty, however it is also because the gameplay concept is also fair: all we can do to our opponent is what the opponent himself can do to us. The only advantage we will have will be to be able to set the brain in motion and try to predict the moves of our enemy, thanks to the observation and study of the movements of the opponents it will be much easier to attack and dodge without smudging.
It can help to think of Dark Souls as if it were a rhythm game, where you have to take a certain action at a certain moment to bring home the reward (obviously we're simplifying it a lot). We must remember the actions performed by the opponent shortly before, think about what is happening in the present and try to predict what is about to happen, trying to understand what are the attack and defense patterns of our enemy. We must therefore pay attention to the animations of the monsters as they are precisely these that speak to us: it will be thanks to them that we will understand when an enemy is vulnerable, for example in the short moment of time immediately after he has launched an attack that we dodged, having to retreat .
It will therefore also help the repetition of a certain strategy against enemies of the same type in a certain area, although sometimes there will be small changes to be made that we will easily automate by staying focused. In the boss fights we will need a lot of calm: observing the boss's movements, without being anxious, will be one of the key elements to achieve victory. In fact, they will obviously have a limited number of moves and by observing them well we will be able to predict what they will do and when they will do it, knowing how to move accordingly. In this case it is good to say: knowledge is a weapon in all respects.
Goodbye Humanity
In previous Dark Souls, with some variations, Humanity was the stat that allowed them to be more resistant to curses and increased the chances of having a richer loot, as well as not having to look like a zombie. In Dark Souls III this concept completely disappears, giving way instead to "kindling".
In fact, we will start the game in a "off" state, as we have just come out of our own grave. We will be able to change state using the Ember, an object that will practically replace Humanity and that will cure us beyond the allowed limits, as well as giving a burning aura of our character to underline its enhancement. Another bonus that the use of the Ember can confer is for example the possibility of invoking other players or NPCs to help us, so using this object before facing a boss will certainly be a smart choice.
Embers should be used sparingly as they will be very few, scattered around the game world or can be purchased from some merchants at Firelink Shrine, so think twice before using them.
Always in 1 VS 1
Never ever face enemies in a group: even the smallest opponent can send you upside down if he attacks you with others of his kind. Always look for one on one.
Find your farm area
Another important element is to find the area in which to farm souls and objects: in Dark Soul the initial areas of the game are a great place to farm, but this is not true in Dark Souls II and not even in III. It turns out to be a good area beyond the second bonfire, the High Wall of Lothric. It won't be easy to reach this area but doing so will certainly be worth it as there will be a greater chance of dropping a shield that reduces parry damage by 100%.
Also in this area you can also take advantage of the presence of a fire-breathing dragon that is near a bridge. After observing his moves and figuring out how to avoid his attacks, you can use him to burn other enemies and obtaining souls quickly and easily. This is a great way to quickly accumulate souls and level up, in a sort of cycle: aggravate the dragon, have him kill the enemies, take the souls, rest at the bonfire and start over. With a little luck you will be able to find the shield we mentioned earlier.
Recommended build to start: the mighty Warlock
The Sorcerer has a considerable advantage over the other classes that is the remote engagement. Through the cast of his spells he can start the fight at quite significant distances and continue to keep enemies at a distance for quite a while. Having ranged weapons is also not mandatory for this class but it will certainly be another element that will play to our advantage in case we get hold of them.
This class is a mix between the Assassin and the Rogue as it is equipped with little armor, light weapons and a lot of dexterity, thus facilitating dodges and somersaults, but it differs from these thanks to the high Magic attribute.
One of the best aspects of the Sorcerer is that he can defeat the Master with ease compared to many other classes: this opponent appears near the Firelink Shrine and can easily defeat many of them with a single sword stroke. The Sorcerer, on the other hand, has an advantage thanks to the range, so it will be much more difficult to be affected.
In case of victory you will be rewarded with a very powerful weapon, the Uchigatana, which you probably won't be able to use right away with the Sorcerer but only after a few level ups. In any case it is an excellent sword that, in combination with the shield we were talking about previously, forms a duo that will keep you company for a long time.
