- Tue Apr 11, 2023 6:35 pm
#16860155
Ok so let's take a moment and talk about Dark Souls and how to Git Gut. DS is one of the games that sticks to category "easy to learn but hard to master". It's easy to learn basic mechanics of gameplay but how to utilize them and when... That's something completely different.
There are many cool and great armors or shields and poise is considered to be OP. Just get the heavy armor with big defences and poise and spam attack using some big weapon that breaks enemy poise. EZ win. That's how Giant Dad works or any Havel + Big Bonk setup. Most of the time it works great on PvE and even on PvP is quite good. But is it a top? Is it a peak of mastery you can achiev?
No. If you go far beyond NG+ you will learn that at some point bosses will start to kill you in 1-2 hits no matter how good your armor is or how many health you have. And let's be honest. Taking no hit at all is in 99% better option than tanking it on armor or blocking via shield. There are many ways to avoid damage. Attacking from distance using spear or ranged attacks and moving is ok. But it won't save you from fast attacks that cover large area. So at some point you will realize that rolling at right moment and direction is the only 100% safe way to avoid damage.
And this is the secret of ancient masters. You don't need vitality, poise, armor or shield at all to survive and avoid damage. As long as you keep rolling correctly at right time you are technically immune to any damage. And this is the place where Dark Wood Grain Ring comes in. With it you can roll faster, cover larger area and get bigger immunity window.
But that's not all. There's mechanic we can call "Instability Damage". Do not confuse it with Counter Damage cause that's something different. Instability damage gives stable 40% damage boost to ANY attack that hits target that is somehow unstable. There are some situations when this works and one of them is rolling. If you manage to hit rolling target when he's not protected by immunity time window there will be green flash of light added to blood splash (counter hit have white flash). And this hit will deal 40% more damage and it's not affected by Leo Ring. Probably you were hit by it many times when you wrongly timed your roll during boss fight and you were hit really hard. It works best with medium and fat rolls but fast roller can also be hit that way. But not with this ring. When you use DWGR you are already hard to hit during ninja flip roll at all but it is still possible. But even if you are hit no damage bonus will apply. You are immune to additional 40% damage boost if you get hit during ninja flip roll and you will take normal damage instead.
So this is the true way how too Git Gut. Bleed, high poise damage or OP spells/weapon buffs won't help your enemies if they can't hit you. And if they can't hit you don't need high health, big poise or protection. Mobility > any armor or shield. So next time consider dumping Havel's Ring and your heavy armor to pockets and wear DWGR with less than 25% equip load instead.
