Is Dark Souls beating you to a pulp? Don’t let that prevent you from continuing to play my favorite game of this year by using some of these handy tips and suggestions.
Fire Keeper Souls
Occasionally you may find a Fire Keeper Soul and the item description may trick you into using it as you would an Estus Flask. Do not do that! There are certain NPCs scattered around the world that when spoken to, have the option to “reinforce estus flask.” When you do that your Estus Flask will be permanently improved. Don’t be a fool and use the Fire Keeper Soul as an item like it did the first time.
Backstabbing
Most humanoid enemies can be backstabbed and you will want to do this all the time as it does major damage and gives you invincibility frames. To backstab an enemy simply attack them from behind. You must be lined up somewhat precisely and this may take practice but locking on helps. Also, you cannot backstab if you have your shield up when you attack. Backstabbing is particularly useful against the knights that litter the world. Many enemies are easier to hit from behind because of lack of shields and most don’t have a way to attack things behind them so if you can’t backstab them you can at least hit them there anyway. It’s safer.
Play Online
Regardless of if you are human or not, you can place down your summon sign in most areas and be summoned into another player’s world. Playing online is a great way to learn the levels, enemy locations and bosses without having to worry about losing your souls because if you die in another player’s world, you don’t lose anything.
If you are human, you can summon other players to help you by activating their summon signs that look like white messages on the ground. This makes a tough boss much easier if the others know what they are doing. At the very least it will give the boss more than one target to focus on.
If you are worried about being invaded by another player, know that you have to be human to be invaded and even if you are, chances are somewhat slim of that happening. And since you are human, just summon some help to kill the invader. It’s really nothing to worry about.
Starting Gifts
When making a character there is an option for a gift to give that character. This basically comes down to some free item that you get at the start of the game. However, one of these is the Tiny Being’s Ring, described as a ring that slowly regenerates HP and it does not do that. All it does is add 5% to your max HP. Choosing this item is really a waste of a starting gift.
Another one of these items is a Master Key. Now, having a key that can open a bunch of the locked doors very early in the game might sound very helpful but this isn’t quite true. Using this key can get you lost and going in the complete wrong direction as to where the game wants you to be. It might be an open world game but the beginning is linear and there is always somewhere you are supposed to be going. Using the key to open a certain door I can think of right before the first boss, will send you off to a tangential area you aren’t meant to be in until several bosses later. This is really up to you though, as long as you stay mindful of the path you were on, it’s not so bad.
Control Aggro
Dark Souls is immensely easier when fighting enemies one on one, so always try to draw them out and away from other enemies. Fighting a group is almost always a bad idea. Running through an area like a certain Leroy, will quickly get you killed.
If an enemy is near a ledge or any other dangerous object, try and lure them away to a more open area to fight. Use the environment to your advantage; funneling enemies down a hallway is a favorite tactic of mine.
Make sure to look around every corner and behind yourself because you can never know when an ambush might happen.
Observe
Take care to really watch boss movements for signs of attacking. Every boss has a tell, you just have to be alert. If one of their attacks breaks through your block for a lot of damage, try rolling out of the way instead. Always let them attack first to capitalize on a possible opening after the attack. The same rules apply for normal enemies as well.
If nothing else, don’t be overly aggressive. This is not God of War, you can’t just charge in and mash buttons to win(sorry GoW fans). Also, always defend. It will save your life many many times—especially from out of sight enemies firing projectiles. And remember, if an enemy looks to take 50 or more hits to kill, you probably are going the wrong way and are not meant to fight it.
Drake Sword
If you are still having issues, there is always the Drake Sword. The Drake Sword is a very powerful weapon that you can get early in the game and it doesn’t have high stat requirements to use either.
You will run into a large red dragon shortly after the first boss and soon you will be under a bridge and can look up to see the dragon and, more importantly, its tail. Shoot the tail with an arrow and the dragon will fly away but soon come back. Keep shooting it with arrows until the tail breaks off and you get a message telling you that you got the sword.
On a related note, a lot of the bosses may or may not have tails that can be chopped off to get powerful weapons. Hint hint.
Hopefully these tips find you at a time when they may be needed because they may just save your life. But it is Dark Souls, so you will probably die anyway. Such is the way of the game.
