If you have played any of the Dark Souls games, you probably have realized that none of the games actually tell you where to go. This is especially present with Dark Souls 2 and makes it the most confusing game, at least for me, in the entire series. From the beginning, it just drops you in and expects you to know exactly where to go. Once you have figured it out though, you will breeze through the game like nothing. Here are some tips for new players to figure out what to do first. If you are having trouble with the game, consider buying this Dark Souls 2 guide on Amazon here.
Choose the right class for you
The Class you choose at the start of the game sort of decides what your build is going to be the entire game. I know that you can change around your weapons and armor as you play but I feel like you should try to stick as close to the original class that you chose already. There are a total of 8 classes to choose from and each of them gives you a different set of armor and weapons.
You want to probably read the description for all of them just to see what each one beholds. You probably don’t want to pick the Knight class if you want a magic build, it is pretty self- explanatory. If you want a challenge, choose the Deprived class and try to play the game like that. Basically, you are naked and the game gives you nothing. All you have to do is use what you find in the world.
Don’t waste Human Effigies
Human Effigies are very important in Dark Souls 2 and it is very important to not waste them at all. Basically, a Human Effigy allows you to heal yourself back up to full health again because of the system used in Dark Souls 2. When you die, you become Hollowed and your health ber is slowly lowered as each death entails. I am not a huge fan of the mechanic but there are some people that think the system is actually pretty good and adds something different to the game. To me, it is just another annoying thing to worry about. If you get a Human Effigy, make sure you don’t waste it. You should have a bunch saved up for any important fights later on in the game.
Don’t sell anything
The problem that most people have is that they want to get as many souls as they can in the beginning so they can upgrade faster. I mean, you can do that, but you might sell something that is very important and you probably want to use it in the future. What if you find a bunch of weapons and you think to yourself that you are probably never going to use these weapons. You sell them and then, later on, find out that a specific weapon or armor set is actually really good and you forgot that you sold it. You are then going to have to wait until the next playthrough to just get it again. Never sell anything before finding out what the item is first.
Find the right gear
The weapons that you use are the most important thing you can find early on because if you can get a decent weapon at the start of the game, you can use that same weapon the entire game. That is the same with the armor you get also. Your weapons can be upgraded for better stats and you can also upgrade your armor for more defense. Depending on what armor you have, upgrading it will give you boosts against different damage types and it makes for an easier survival rate against enemies.
Also, depending on what weapon type you have, you have to play differently. If you have a magic build, you have to be farther back because your defense is usually lower. If you are a Knight, then you must get very close to your enemy to do damage. It all depends on how you want to play with the weapons and armor that you have.
Know your enemy
Dark Souls 2 is filled with hundreds of different enemies that are all trying to kill you. The hard part of the game is figuring out what each of the enemies does. The best thing to do is to fight the enemies individually to see what moves they have and how fast they move. Sometimes you will run into the enemies that kill you right away or poison you on the first hit. It is all about finding out what each of them does so you can easily get past them the next time you encounter them.
Also, Dark Souls 2 has very bad hitboxes so keep that in mind when going up against a horde of enemies. Sometimes I found myself taking damage when I wasn’t even hit at all. The best thing for you to do is find the easiest way to take out any enemy and use it as much as you can. The Bonfires are far away from each other in this game so you really have to be careful when trying t get to the next one.
Explore everything
In Dark Souls 2, there are a lot of things you can miss if you don’t explore as much as you can. For example, there is a boss where the arena that you fight him in is very small and you can easily fall off the sides. What I didn’t know is that if you kill the enemies before the boss fight, you can pull some levers that increase the size of the boss arena and make it easier to defeat him. It is all about exploration and how much time you want to put in to look around in the places you would never think there would be anything there. Make sure you are always keeping an eye out for a secret door or illusory wall because they are everywhere.
Try not to die
As I have said before, when you die, your health bar is dropped by five points because of the Hollowing mechanic put into the game. The more you die, the smaller your health bar gets unless you use a Human Effigy. You don’t want to use Human Effigies because it can be a waste sometimes so make sure you are always watching out where you are going or what enemy you are going to face because that can determine how much you die. There is even a monument that tells you how many times other people have died and it is usually a lot. I know that you can’t really avoid dying because it is a Dark Souls game, but you should try to die as little as you can because you don’t want to lose health.
Find the right path
There are many paths to take and not a lot of people know where to go when they start. This Dark Souls game is especially confusing because the worlds are very different from the other games. I have played all three games and I have to say, this game is my least favorite just because I did not really like the world design as much as the other games, but it does do really well with the amount of content in the game. Yes, it was kind of confusing, but in the end, when you figure everything out, you can breeze through the game like it is nothing. You just have to make sure you are going the right way.
Conclusion
In conclusion, Dark Souls 2 is a very confusing game that some people like and some don’t. It all depends on your opinion on it. If you are starting out, just make sure you are cautious in everything that you do because you will die a lot on your first playthrough. Don’t worry about what to do because once you figure it out, you will have an easier time doing everything the next time you do it. Always watch what you are doing and make sure that you never give up.