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How to play Dark Souls w/o Shield?
- Thread starter Grifter
- Start date
im almost all the way through DS2 with spear and shield, after doing the same with the other two, and that setup is probably the most OP in 2. With few exceptions, great shield stability will keep you from staggering even from repeated boss blows. And there's no damage reduction penalty in DS2 with the shield poke. It makes the constant ganks of the game a breeze.
That said, there's no "best" way to play. I did a 2h SL1 run of DS3 after the first shield run, and had a blast both ways. I just like that having a shield is a lot more forgiving when first learning enemy move sets.
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Does that lvl30 sword I got off the first (or second?) boss count, or do you mean one of those ~20lb behemoths?
I did a pure magic run in DS3 not too long ago. Other than a frustrating start it was a lot of fun one shotting enemies and doing high damage to bosses from afar. Overall though nothing beats two handing an ultra greatsword for maximum oompf.
You either make yourself fast and roll everything, or you two-hand something long and/or heavy. Usually some combination of both.
Two-handing a heavy weapon like a zweihander in ds1 gives you this huge overhead slam with a ton of range, and it either staggers enemies or knocks them into the ground. With good timing and spacing, most enemies won't even reach you.
Two-handing a heavy weapon like a zweihander in ds1 gives you this huge overhead slam with a ton of range, and it either staggers enemies or knocks them into the ground. With good timing and spacing, most enemies won't even reach you.
I love two handed big ass weapons, or even just something like a Reinforced Club. It's so much fun to use, particularly in Dark Souls 1. In DS3, I enjoy the dual weapons a lot, so I'm rarely using shields.
Still equip them for Stamina Regen, but it's very rare for me to block anything. Dodging is just more efficient and fun. You don't deal with stunlock, you lose less stamina, don't have to worry about stability and can retaliate right away. It's less about not wanting to rely on shields and more about just having fun with it. If you enjoy sword and shield builds, more power to you. This isn't Bloodborne, those builds are there for you to use them.
The idea of playing without shields is pretty much the same behind "fashion souls > stats". As long as you time your dodge rolls correctly, you'll take 0 damage anyway. How much damage you can block/absorb is irrelevant as long as you don't get hit, so focus on that instead and free that L1 to spam the Sellsword Twinblades, which are by far the best weapons in DS3 for PVE, in my opinion.
Ultra Greatswords can indeed give you some trouble in the DLCs, though, especially Ashes of Ariandel with the infinite combos and very little space for retaliation. Dark Souls III heavily favors faster weapons.
Still equip them for Stamina Regen, but it's very rare for me to block anything. Dodging is just more efficient and fun. You don't deal with stunlock, you lose less stamina, don't have to worry about stability and can retaliate right away. It's less about not wanting to rely on shields and more about just having fun with it. If you enjoy sword and shield builds, more power to you. This isn't Bloodborne, those builds are there for you to use them.
The idea of playing without shields is pretty much the same behind "fashion souls > stats". As long as you time your dodge rolls correctly, you'll take 0 damage anyway. How much damage you can block/absorb is irrelevant as long as you don't get hit, so focus on that instead and free that L1 to spam the Sellsword Twinblades, which are by far the best weapons in DS3 for PVE, in my opinion.
Ultra Greatswords can indeed give you some trouble in the DLCs, though, especially Ashes of Ariandel with the infinite combos and very little space for retaliation. Dark Souls III heavily favors faster weapons.
In 1 and 3, you don't really need a shield that much once you know the game well. You can just run to avoid most attacks, and you can still block while two-handing anyway, it's just not as good. In DS3, some weapons can even parry with the weapon art. DS2 is where shieldless is a bit harder because enemy tracking is much stronger, meaning you actually have to roll to avoid things. Still doable, of course.
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A noob thing with heavy swords is, it seems harder to sneak in a hit between boss attacks w/o getting wrecked on recovery.
I'll give the Sellsword Twinblades a shot. Any thoughts on how you'd buff it?
Back then i always enjoyed Dark Souls games with a Zweihander on both hands while ignoring magic like a mindless barbarian. Tho i really disliked the Zweihander in Dark Souls 3 so i used the Claymore.
These days i decided to both hands a Uchigatana in DkS1 instead and holy fuck it's basically playing easy mode.
In Dark Souls 2 i always used power stance since it's the only game that does that. Last gameplay i was using a Caestus on each hand that was brutal af.
To this day, i still never have used magic in a Souls game. Sometimes i think of starting a character focused on magic but i'm kind of too lazy to learn new stuff.
Only time i really used a shield in the series was my first playthrough of Souls 1. The combat is a lot slower when you have a shield, and basically i never used one again after learning how to roll properly. The best suggestion for someone to stop using shields is just to not equip them. You will die for a couple of minutes but you'll also get the timing of the enemies and how to dodge them in no time.
These days i decided to both hands a Uchigatana in DkS1 instead and holy fuck it's basically playing easy mode.
In Dark Souls 2 i always used power stance since it's the only game that does that. Last gameplay i was using a Caestus on each hand that was brutal af.
To this day, i still never have used magic in a Souls game. Sometimes i think of starting a character focused on magic but i'm kind of too lazy to learn new stuff.
Only time i really used a shield in the series was my first playthrough of Souls 1. The combat is a lot slower when you have a shield, and basically i never used one again after learning how to roll properly. The best suggestion for someone to stop using shields is just to not equip them. You will die for a couple of minutes but you'll also get the timing of the enemies and how to dodge them in no time.
what's weird is, i'll often walk around with a shield (usually before i get a good weapon to go either one or two hand), but i'll always be dodging/rolling, & never actually be using the damn thing. don't ask me why...
Bleed used to be absurdly OP, but it has been nerfed. Still good if you're not necessarily aiming for the absolute best damage, though. Lightning is almost always a great choice as well.
As for permanent infusions, I think I always go with Sharp, but I'm not sure if that's the best choice or just one that worked well enough for me.
I hope you enjoy the weapon and the DLCs. There are some really incredible boss fights in them.
Yeah, that's you getting Dark Souls 3'd
Bosses like the Nameless King barely give you time for more than 1 hit with an average speed weapon, let alone the huge ones. DS1 is much more forgiving in that sense. The downside is that for that to be true, the bosses are also more forgiving in general. Coming from Dark Souls III, you'll likely find almost all of them a little too easy. The more freedom they give you to tackle bosses, the less punishing the bosses can be, I suppose. It holds true going the other way around, with Sekiro having some really demanding fights by not giving you any build choice at all.
Yeah I just realized on my Demon's build right now I'm using a shield but I'm just double handing a sword. Whoops.
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That's the roll at < 30% weight load?
Going in blind, I played (died) several days before I learned I was fat rolling. 😰
my favorite melee build with dual weapons is the brigand twin daggers with the old wolf curved sword on your back, and the pontiff's right eye ring (left eye optional), and also carthus beacon. you will absolutely DESTROY bosses in NG and NG+, it's actually insane.
in 3, you basically only need to aim to have your equip load be below 70%, though your roll distance will be longer when you are below 30% but it's not that important to get that low.
Usually 2 hand, never really like the damage dual wielding offers vs 2 handling or a parry shield and sword. Outside of DS2, I much prefer dodging than turtling too, which 2 hand weapons encourage.
The more behemothy the better imho. That is my favorite play style, but you should experiment with the options in the game to figure out what you like.
I'm not sure which weapon you're referencing, maybe Vordt's hammer? Great hammers and great axes are also fun two handed.
Nonetheless, if my memory serves me correctly I think some of the early-ish options for ultra great swords would include the:
Greatsword
Zweihander
Astora Greatsword
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Yeah, Vordt's Hammer. Since I got that at the start, I set it aside as a goal to reach as I pumped levels into STR. I actually don't see how one can go even heavier w/o going into NG+ or farming hard.
I'm not sure if this was mentioned elsewhere, but one thing to keep in mind is that when you two-hand a weapon your strength increases by 50%. This not only increases damage, but also means you can wield weapons sooner by two-handing. For example, if a weapon requires 30 strength to wield, you can two-hand it as soon as you have 20 strength.
Edit: I also recommend eventually getting rings that boost your equip load so you can get by with heavier stuff. You can make Havel's Ring relatively early with a Demon Soul. Ring of Favor and Prisoner's Chain are also fantastic, but they come later.
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I use a shield on almost every build.
Yes, even on builds where I mainly dual wield or two-hand my main weapon.
Because of two reasons:
1- it's always nice to have a tool for emergency blocking. Rolling isn't always practical. Like narrow ledges where a slightly off angle to your roll means sudden death, compared to how safe it is to hit L1 to block that projectile? Yeah.
2- it's always nice to have a tool for parrying. Parrying is a useful mechanic, and it's generally much easier and/or safer to do with a shield than, say, with your hand or an off-hand weapon.
Not using shields at all is of course viable too. But there's this annoyingly persistent idea that "Souls games are better without shields" or whatever and it's just... always been nonsense. Bloodborne is obviously the exception because shields sucking in it was by design. But Souls games all have very good, useful shields, and no one should feel bad or embarrassed to use them.
Yes, even on builds where I mainly dual wield or two-hand my main weapon.
Because of two reasons:
1- it's always nice to have a tool for emergency blocking. Rolling isn't always practical. Like narrow ledges where a slightly off angle to your roll means sudden death, compared to how safe it is to hit L1 to block that projectile? Yeah.
2- it's always nice to have a tool for parrying. Parrying is a useful mechanic, and it's generally much easier and/or safer to do with a shield than, say, with your hand or an off-hand weapon.
Not using shields at all is of course viable too. But there's this annoyingly persistent idea that "Souls games are better without shields" or whatever and it's just... always been nonsense. Bloodborne is obviously the exception because shields sucking in it was by design. But Souls games all have very good, useful shields, and no one should feel bad or embarrassed to use them.
I always go 1h+shield in my first playthrough of a Souls game just because I feel like that's the vanilla style, but after that get those shields outta here. 2h with light armor is my preferred build though dual wield is also great. As for how to play without a shield... memorize enemy patterns and dodge. It's that easy!
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Aw, crap! I learned about the 2H boost mid-game and mistook it for a 1.5x damage boost when 2-handing a 1H sword. That helps!
As soon as I saw Havel's Ring for a soul redemption, that was pretty much equipped for the rest of the game, since I was trying to carry a 100% physical shield, and a talisman for healing, and a bow for pulling.
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Wasn't poise and/or stability nerfed in DS3? I kept upping those, wondering if they were helping.
poise is a different thing and the way it works in Dark Souls 1 is unique to that title alone. in 3 it's vaguely similar but ONLY applies during specific weapons' attacks rather than all of the time. i believe shield stability is basically the same across the titles
I'm a heathen PVE quality build that's part Dex and part Faith so I run 2-handing weapons and switching to chime + one hand weapon to throw lightning and it's super fun in DS1 and 3. Especially Dark Souls 3 where I go between the Dragonsword Spear or Abyss Blades depending on my mood.
In Dark Souls 2 I went big dick energy 2 handed weapon though. And at some point after I had helped my other friends beat the game multiple times I had so many souls that I was dual-wielding the two Smelter Hammers just for the Hell of it.
In Dark Souls 2 I went big dick energy 2 handed weapon though. And at some point after I had helped my other friends beat the game multiple times I had so many souls that I was dual-wielding the two Smelter Hammers just for the Hell of it.
You don't need a shield if you can roll. You only need it to parry.
How to play without a shield:
Step 1: make a big angry/sad man.
Step 2: call him Guts.
Step 3: get either the Claymore or the Zweihander (DS1), Ludwig's Holy Blade (Bloodborne) and the Greatsword (DS3). Wolf Knight's Greatsword and Gael's Greatsword are good alternatives to the Greatsword since their former owners are based on Guts.
Step 4: CLANG everything that gets in your way. Shields are just a state of mind where you assume you are going to be hit. Remember you are literally too angry to die.
Step 5: put your grasses on. Nothing will be wong since you will recover stamina more quickly. As many people already pointed out, Grass Crest Shield on your back while you 2-hand a greatsword is a good choice for that purpose.
How to play without a shield:
Step 1: make a big angry/sad man.
Step 2: call him Guts.
Step 3: get either the Claymore or the Zweihander (DS1), Ludwig's Holy Blade (Bloodborne) and the Greatsword (DS3). Wolf Knight's Greatsword and Gael's Greatsword are good alternatives to the Greatsword since their former owners are based on Guts.
Step 4: CLANG everything that gets in your way. Shields are just a state of mind where you assume you are going to be hit. Remember you are literally too angry to die.
Step 5: put your grasses on. Nothing will be wong since you will recover stamina more quickly. As many people already pointed out, Grass Crest Shield on your back while you 2-hand a greatsword is a good choice for that purpose.
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Someone told me to do 40/40 Strength/Dex with a rapier +10 so I've been doing that without a shield because blocking is too much work and chonky armor feels good.
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Hey, thanks! I considered a fire stone, assuming it'd be useful in Ariandel, but lightning looks more versatile.
As for Sekiro, that's loaded up as my second Souls-like to tackle. Stick to a speed build to start off in that, then?
There's not reeeally builds in Sekiro, and you only have the one sword (though there are tools and items). There is a skill tree though!
Also, combat-wise, I wouldn't call it a Souls-like either.
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Ah, misunderstood and thought you meant the game could frustrate similarly to DS3 if I were to choose the "wrong" equipment.
