Game:

Dark Souls II (2014)

Duration: 3:24:10

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1

This playthrough went well, no real hiccups. I actually got this one first try which is the reason why one particular part of it was a little goofy, but not exactly scuffed, just poorly planned since it was the first run and I hadn't ironed out my plan yet. The only particularly goofy thing is that I fought the belfry gargoyles just to use the dragon tooth one time to middling effect. Since soulsplanner doesn't let you see the damage of +0 weapons I just had to guess what the dragon tooth's AR would be given it's base damage which seemed impressive. I assumed its damage would be so high that I might even use it the rest of the game since greathammers are weirdly quick on their first light attack making them strangely good in this game. Sadly it did not beat the craftman's hammer by very much since its scaling starts super weak unupgraded. Still one of the best +0 greathammers since its base damage is so high, although since Demon's Greathammer has almost the same base but better scaling it probably would be better, but I aint RNG grinding for that. But let it be known if you want to RNG grind with the petrified something starting gift, demons greathammer is likely better for than dragons tooth for this run and doesnt require adding a boss. All that said, the greathammer pancake strat didn't work amazingly in shrine of amana, it did feel a little safer than just free balling it with a smaller weapon, but honestly not by much since my poise wasnt high enough to hyper armor through the archdrake knight attacks so Idk if that risk of getting swiped out of the attack was worth it. Honestly the demons greathammer might've been worth it, with its much higher scaling it might've one shotted the archdrake knights which would've been worth it and it might've been the better weapon over craftman's hammer overall, plus I could've started using it as soon as I hit 30 something strength. But again, thats RNG, but it is right at the start of the run so you could just go for it. Probably the best strat honestly. But screw that. Anyways yeah, first try, EZ run. I mean not really, relatively easy for me with my experience, but its still not like *easy* easy, just not as bad as my other deathless run I did recently. Also this confirms santiers spear is kinda dogshit because I *consistently* did more damage to every boss in this run with a +0 weapon and my santier's spear was raw infused and almost fully upgraded by the end. Lack of scaling really makes it hard to justify outside of No Death/Bonfire runs where its infinite durability gimmick comes in clutch.

Also DS2 no death runs are kinda growing on me, I don't think I'd ever want to do hitless since that requires far more meticulous routing/planning, learning a ton of consistency/safe strats/setups for bosses/areas and most of all, at least at the entry level, it typically involves a lot of bows and cheese strats. I know more honest rangeless hitless runs exist, but you dont start there (and quite frankly I'm not cut out for that stuff), you start with bow killing everything and giga cheesing anything that moves. And that just doesnt sound super fun to me. I probably could do entry level unrestrict hitless runs using the safest and lamest strats out there, but what would be the point, it wouldn't be that fun to me even if I did pull it off which I might not even be cut out for since I tend to choke under that sorta pressure. But the no death runs are a bit more casual and free to experiment and have fun with, I might do a few more since its entertaining to me right now. I might do couple for DS3 too. The big issue with deathless runs is that if you dont get it in the first couple tries it gets boring and tedious, although I imagine hitless is like that too except that the tedium is just part of the learning process for that sort of thing since you arent expected to get it in the first couple tries.

Rules:
-No Using Upgraded Weapons/Armor (Infusions included)
-No deaths (must receive Illusory Ring of a Conqueror)
-No Curse (must retain human form the whole time)
-Melee Only (no bows, thrown items, magic, melee weapon projectiles, etc)
-No Brightbugs
-Estus Healing Only

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