TLDR: my warrior fully upgraded their main weapon and now face a deficit of titanite chunks to upgrade other weapons, severely limiting my build in time when mages gain several new awesome spells as well as resources to upgrade their pyromancy flame and catalyst.

I’m replaying Dark Souls 2 (SotFS) after years of not touching the game and generally not spending much time with Souls-likes. I went for a warrior type, focusing on swords and crossbows. Despite not having access to any magic, I have a blast!

Yet, once the early game full of experimentations with weapons and drip fashion reached its’ end and I settled on a claymore +10 and a pretty looking “armor” set, my build became stale. I used up my titanite chunks on the claymore and I can’t gain more since the useless ore merchant can’t sell shit until you are 2 bosses away from winning. I have murakumo +7 and I switch to it sometimes but it’s hard to compete with a fully upgraded claymore.

The game throws twinkling titanite to me and I would love to use it on some cool weapon… but there are none! The only special weapon that could fit this build, Drangleic greatsword, is just worse than my claymore in terms of reach and moveset. Maybe it has a bit more damage when it’s fully upgraded but I’d still prefer the more convenient option.

Now, there are also boss weapons. Again, there’s only one that actually interests me - the flexile sentinel’s curved greatsword. It’s pretty similar to my murakumo except it weighs more and… that’s it? Stat scaling is a bit different but moveset seems identical. It looks cool though. But I dunno if it’s worth the investment. Are there other interesting boss weapons worth waiting for? I don’t really want to grind for petrified bones…

It’s especially aggravating because, when a mage reaches Drangleic castle, they get such a huge upgrade. Great combustion, several fire seeds, Soul greatsword, Firestorm, twinkling titanite for the best catalyst… it’s arguably the best part of the game for casters.

  • Lucy [she/faer]@piefed.blahaj.zoneOPEnglish
    2·
    1 day ago

    Have you been to them before? You kind of give the impression that you haven’t.

    I definitely completed them all in one save but I have trouble remembering how many times had this happened:

    • There must be the first time, completely spoiler-less - it wasn’t my first playthrough though since for some reason I didn’t get to the DLC for quite some time after beating the main game;
    • There’s my PyroSorcerer PvP build that had to get all kinds of spells from the DLCs - but it was so minmaxxed (just enough strength/dexterity to wield a handaxe) that I probably just couldn’t qualify for most gear found there;
    • Finally, there was one save when I went for all Steam achievements but it ended up being so grindy and miserable that I don’t remember anything but the covenant grind and rushing NG+ and NG+2 for the arena covenant rewards.

    Then, of course, there were a few other saves when I went for one DLC but not the others. E.g., my Dragon Slayer went to Shulva to beat Sinh’s ass but the other two have no dragons so I skipped them. I also had a challenge run: I rushed the frozen DLC and went through the entire Eleum Loyce using Warmth spell as my only way to heal. I’d managed to beat Aava without healing but the Ivory King proved too much for me.

    But in the end, the game is so long that most of my playthroughs ended somewhere around Drangleic Castle as my focus wanders off to something else. I’m sure I’ll have lots of fun in the DLCs thanks to my relative unfamiliarity!