Dark Souls

I finally wanted to try out Dark Souls and wanted to play a melee focused character.
Should I focus on strength or dex or both?
Do I need dex if I also want to use a bow?

Just get the drake sword and level up resist, by the end game you'll be so strong you literally take no damage from anything because of your maxed out resist and drake sword is the best sword in the game by far.

Go 27 str and 40 dex. That'll let you use just about any weapon you come across effectively. 27 str becomes 40 when twohanding, and beyond 40 you get severely diminished returns for damage scaling, so there's little point in going beyond that.

This
Just lvl up resist for ggez

This, great advice

>Should I focus on strength or dex or both?
All three choices are perfectly viable so long as you pick the right weapons for your build.
>Do I need dex if I also want to use a bow?
You'll need a bit of strength and dex for most weapons, so it pays to put a few points even into a stat you aren't using. But note that bows aren't viable as a main weapon. They're a tool for pulling enemies or finishing off annoying ranged enemies.

Also put zero points into Resistance, it's the worst stat in the game and does almost nothing.

dont tell him that, it makes the entire game ez mode may as well just use cheats

this entire time I always was super certain that 2handing doubled your strength, but just looked it up on the wiki and its 1.5
was demon souls the only one where it was doubled?

Okay, thanks guys!

Just play the fucking game and don't follow a guide.

Summoning phantoms also makes upgrades cost more in the long run so try to not do that if you can.

14 dex, 16 str, endurance 40, 10int, rest is up to you

DS2 halves the Str requirement on a weapon when twohanded, but because it does it that way instead of doubling your stat you don't get a scaling bonus.

It really depends on the type of weapon you want to use. Stat requirements and scaling depend on the weapon.

You could also upgrade your weapons into their elemental versions that don't scale with stats and just dump everything into endurance and vitality.

These guys are messing with you. Resistance is the worst stat in the game. Don't waste your souls on it.

Spotted the casual

R E A L T A L K

Bows-only has never been viable in any Souls game, they're best used as tools to either snipe enemies, poison them or draw aggro from afar. But yes, bows use dex.

For a first playthrough I find it easier to pick strength or dex and just focus on one as it leaves you more points to put into other important stats like Vit and End. It depends on what kind of weapon you want to use of course, you can get away with barely levelling Str or Dex if you have a powerful base-damage non-scaling weapon (not the drake sword, but something like the dragon greataxe or gravelord sword).

user, don't tell other people to handicap themselves on their first run.

If they want to make the tankiest character in the game, with the best weapon, let them.

Is there a way to attack differently? I sometimes hit the wall.
Or is it like said and I need a bow to pull them to an open area.

Depends on the weapon. Press Y to two-hand the weapon and get a different moveset.

That said, if the animation hits the wall then you'll hit the wall. If your weapon has not vertical slashes or stabs then you might just need to pull them into a more open area.

Get Claymore

why don't you PLAY IT YOURSELF BLIND AND NOT BE A FAGGOT

ANYONE WHO ACTUALLY GIVES OP ADVICE INSTEAD OF TELLING THEM PLAY IS A FAGGOT JESUS CHRIST

Oh but I'm playing right now and meeting other great people from the souls community.

You can succeed with either, but Strength is just objectively superior for PvE. Greatshields which trivialize most of the game have high Strength requirements. Superheavy weapons, which also trivialize a large portions of the game on their own and nicely complement greatshields when used together have high Strength requrements. Dex builds may have mildly higher ceiling of power, particularly for PvP, if you know exactly what you're doing but they have much, much lower floor, and much higher skill requirements to perform even okayish.

That said, you should level Endurance to 40 before heavily (beyond stat requirements for early weapons) investing in either Str or Dex.

Bow is not adequate as a primary damage dealer, to pull enemies and remove snipers you just need enough Dex to fulfill its requirements.

-Ignore some these guys, never level up resistance, also, upgrading weapons should take precedence over leveling.
Try to balance health and stamina, try to focus on either str or dex at first, will be easier for your first build to focus on one combat stat instead of both.
-Don't level either above 40, 40 is the softcap.
-Kill the dogs first.
-Learn to utilize i-frames early; learn to dodge.
-Stamina is the name of the game, manage it carefully.

Have fun OP.

STR for an easymode playthrough in heavy armours with greatshields. Only problem you'll have is finding gaps to swing the slow weapons you'll end up using, especially against certain bosses, but the amount of damage you'll be able to take and block will trivialize that.
DEX for a harder but more rewarding skill-based playthrough, that'll probably teach you to dodge and backstab, you'll also be able to use a bow to lure enemies, but that's about all they're good for other then using poison arrows to cheaply eliminate annoying targets.
Both would be a good option for a first playthrough, as it'll let you try out a variety of weapons to find the ones that suit you, and you'll be able to switch up your gear if a certain boss is giving you trouble to try a different strategy.

This. It's the most rewarding way to experience it. Figure shit out for yourself instead of following a checklist. It'll be frustrating at parts, but worth it.

All these faggots giving shit advice, i bet you casuals read a guide for your first playtrough.

And
Are the only people with legit answers here.

>HURR DURR HARDCRE GAME 4 HRDCRES GIT GUD NO SUMMONING NO SHIELDS NO ROLLING
literally fuck off, the Souls fanbase gets enough shit as it is

>he leveled DEX

>you can get away with barely leveling str
>dragon greataxe
>requires 34 just to twohand
user...

Just read this, OP

some other random tips
>make sure you xplore everything carefully there is tons of hidden shit, item/weapons/armor everywhere
>go with a weapon you like to use instead of which has best raw dps
>DO NOT ATTACK NPCS
>Learn to kick effectively
>clear out your hotbar dont have it full of unnecessary shit

>He doesn't level both

Well, bad example. I meant using those weapons you only need to level to meet wielding requirements and not to softcap. Drake sword isn't applicable since it becomes useless quick while the DKGA and gravelord sword are viable through the whole game, except DKGA has a much higher strength requirement.

Basically, how much you need to put into your main damage stat depends on what kind of weapon you're wielding and how it scales. If you're set on using a high-damage mid-to-low scaling weapon then in the early game you don't need to pump your damage stat as much.

The fuck

95% of weapons in game upgraded to amx will carry you in game
Yep, bows/crossbows are tool for various tricks even if they look like designated weapon
Your starting character is ready to face everything in game. leveling etc just make it easier and it doesnt means that you're a faggot because you cant kill ng7+ final boss with your bare fists (but you can encounter people who actually have done this)
str - big ass and slow 2h weapons or 2h held in one hand
dex - fast one hand weapons and speas
Simple straight sword is nearly enough to complete game. You can experiment with halberd because of awesome reach and attack while shielded
Rememberr that turtling aka shield instead of roll will sometimes get you killed
For ym first run preered silver knight longsword as main weapon. Nice reach and dmg buy you need twinkling titanite to upgrade it to 5+ (boss and rare weapons can be upgraded to +5, rest to +15).
Later i used sorcerer to the point of enchant crystal weapon + silver knight longsword = massive damage
And some things are hard or imossible to do because of low population like darkmoon or dragon covenant

???

Are we just making shit up now to lie to anons?