Dark Souls 2

[Tonearm Terrorwrist]

Yeah your starting class really means nothing it's just already distributed points in to certain stats to give you a head start. I'd choose the mage if you wanted to be a mage etc but you can easily make hybrids or even pump stats in to all 4 major weapon stats from any class. As a knight get the southern ritual band +2 to get 3 attunement slots then you don't need to put stats in to attunement but without it your cast speed will be slow.

The ruin sentinels might have an unblockable attack or they might have say a magic attack for example which your shield would have drastically reduced defence on special bonus attacks. I'd guess it's the former though because I don't recall them having special attacks like magic or fire etc

 

[Pierced Soul]

reason i was asking about magic was i was thinking it would occasionally be useful to run away and shoot someone from a distance. in particular the ruin sentinels are dicks. i can beat the first one pretty easily but start having difficulty with the 2 of them. i've summoned the spectre a few times and he usually ends up getting smashed by the first sentinel or becomes a magnet for the other 2

 

[Tonearm Terrorwrist]

Hybrid strength/dex and int builds are very powerful. You can use crystal/magic weapon spell buffs on your weapons which is very powerful and even if your opponent had 100% physical damage you'll hit them with the bonus. Crystal causes poison status I believe. You can also buff your shield which I believe will give you 100% magic damage blocking. Same with faith you can get a lightning buff.

I've been playing a faith/int build just using spells, hexes and a bit of pyro and miracles and I've ripped through a lot of bosses. The ruin sentinels I used the summon and just destroyed them, he was basically the bait and I stayed up top spamming great heavy soul arrow until he died when only 1 was left. The only enemies I encountered with strong magic (and all spells) resistance were in the shaded ruins the lion guys everyone else you can pretty much rip through.

The trade off for that build is I haven't put a single point in to any health stat bar about 3 in to endurance. You get minimal stats increase to health via int and faith but I'm basically two hits away from death by bosses. I was one shot in the memory of Jeigh. Lots of I-frames abuse.

 

[Dr Gonzo]

man the soul memory system has completely f**ked PVP

i left my character at 150 soul level but im finding im getting invaded and raped by guys that are soul level 250+... soul level means jack shit and once you hit new game plus neither does soul memory - it becomes open slather

and PVP has become too difficult... no more red eye orb for unlimited invasions, cracked red eye orbs cost 10,000 each, blue eyed orbs never work and even when you do invade you get ganked or the player is so OP you dont stand a chance

on the plus side, the strength weapons are BEAST. I have a club that does 1700 damage when backstabbing.

 

[Dr Gonzo]

I dont consider myself an elite PVP player by any stretch but I have been keeping a record and I am 200-25 which i reckon is pretty good. Seriously i have been hauling ass. I just put my red sign on the Iron Keep bridge and within a few seconds im duelling

My set up is...

Level 144
Drangleic mail, legs and gauntlets all +5 (the mail alone upgraded is 300 defence)
White Aldia hood
Ring of blades+2, magic quartz ring (heaps of PVP casters)+2, third dragon ring, royal soldiers ring+2
Large Club +10, Smelters Sword +5 and small bow +10 with poison arrows
I dont use a shield because i always two hand for best effect
Sometimes when i am feeling sluggish i use the Mastadon Sword.... at +10 it gets an A scaling for strength and with 60 strength it completely wrecks
I have poison, flame, dark, bleed and lightning buffs - also green blossom for stamina

Seriously, the Smelter Sword is beastly. I mainly use it for PVP and switch between it and the Mastadon Sword to keep them guessing. The Smelter Sword has a two handed R2 attack which is a thrust that spits flames. Hit them once to stagger them and then do the R2 attack. It is almost ALWAYS a one shot kill. A clean R2 with Smelter Sword deals between 1500 and 2500 damage and puts them down flat.

Last night I won 50 in a row with that same tactic. But i think the bridge guys arent the best. I took those tactics into the arena and lost about 25-30% more.

 

[Dr Gonzo]

i got to have a fiddle with the first of the 3 expansion packs for DS2... plays really well and the new gear is bad ass!

with this expansion they also need to get rid of soul memory, nerf magic because it is overpowered and fix poise... sick of some turd with a broken santiers spear just spamming R2 into an infinite stunlock and killing me

Last night i went 49-1 in PVP... Malformed skull (the dragon jaw) + fire weapon... backstabs and criticals were doing 2500+ damage